Aftershocks
by Lady MiLou
Summary: No good deed goes unpunished. The battle doesn't end with the portal being destroyed and Rin finds that despite what good he's done everyone is quick to point fingers at him and Yukio being the one responsible for everything that happened. Running is the only option...but what now?
1. Blood

A/N: Hello everyone, welcome to Aftershocks! It's been a few years since I've written anything but I'm hoping I'm not too rusty at it. I've been working on this story idea for a while and I actually have it all outlined with chapter 2 mostly done as well so I thought I'd give it a shot and see how you all like it. Updates should be fairly regular, I'm hoping one update every 2 weeks. Feedback is highly encouraged, please let me know what you think about the story and where I can improve as a writer.

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Aftershock: (n) the effect, result, or repercussion of an event; aftermath; consequence

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We won.

Those two little words keep echoing through my mind as I mostly stand and take in what everyone is saying. Shima is going on in great detail about Konekomaru reminding everyone about the sun still shinning in Vatican City and how Suguro came up with the idea to use the mirrors. Suguro is looking away, probably a little embarrassed by his friend's praising but he'd never let anyone know that. Kamiki and Paku are talking to each other but I can't make out anything over Shima's now very animated storytelling.

I'm leaning on Yukio with an arm over his shoulders. It's a little awkward with him being taller and my shoulder is being stretched uncomfortably but I don't complain. I look around and finally take in the damage the portal caused.

Rubble litters everything. Stones, bricks, chunks of concrete, all sorts clog walkways and every smooth surface. Windows have also been blown out leaving a shimmering layer of broken glass in the slowly rising morning sunlight. Every building in my line of sight is damaged to some degree though some more than others. The building to my left doesn't have a single window intact and one corner of the roof has broken off but that's it beyond superficial damage. Straight ahead though lies a dormitory and a whole wall has collapsed leaving student rooms exposed. I can't see everything from this angle but I can see a few bright pieces of clothing caught in the rubble and a student's bed poking out precariously from the top floor. A few pipes must have burst under the stress because I can see slowly growing pools of water coming from the neighboring building.

It looks bad, but it doesn't prepare me for when I look to my right.

Sure I'd flown over the city during the fight and I know that to some degree I realized the damage, but I must have pushed it aside to focus on my goal. Now that I'm looking out at the city without the battle in mind, I feel faint.

Smoke clogs the air trying to choke out dawn's light. Most of the fires seem to be put out but some still rage on and those that have been exterminated still expel dark clouds, not willing to give up just yet. Many buildings are just gone. Piles of ash in deep craters dot the city and around them lie piles of rubble. Bridges are split in two, cars and busses are overturned and crushed together, all the trees are stripped of their leaves and stand as smoldering husks of their former glory, and now that I'm listening truly listening, I can hear it. It's faint because my hearing isn't quite as good in this form but I can hear it. Sirens, yelling, but above all, screaming.

Didn't people evacuate? The portal spawned here before moving onto the city, there had to be enough time for people to escape! Right? No, clearly not everyone managed to evacuate the city. Those screams are pained and I don't want to even start to imagine what pain it is those people are feeling.

My vision starts to get fuzzy as the pride of winning and adrenaline start draining away. Instead, I'm feeling dread, fear, and guilt. I feel myself suddenly lean on Yukio more and slip a little. His reflexes are fast though and he pulls me back up.

"Rin? Rin what's wrong?" His voice sounds funny, kind of distorted. I try to look up at him but my head and limbs feel cold and numb.

"Shit man, he's losing a lot of blood!" I think that's Suguro's voice but things are getting harder to understand. I do manage to look down at my feet though.

Oh, that is a lot of blood.

It seems like the blood had been running down my right leg because now there's a small puddle of crimson around my foot. I thought the bleeding had stopped. I feel myself moving down more, sliding in Yukio's grip.

"What the hell happened?!" He sounds angry. He shouldn't be angry, it's not Yukio's fault.

"I-I…I shot him…with an exorcist bullet."

"You what?!" Too many voices that time and the ground is getting closer.

"Why didn't you say something before man?!"

"It wasn't really me! I didn't do it on purpose!"

"This looks really bad…"

Suddenly I feel a pair of hands pulling me up and over onto Suguro's back. I don't even get a second to really understand what's going on before he's running. Seriously, how strong is this guy? I know I'm scrawny compared to him but I'm not that light. Heck, this is the second time this guy has carried me like this, what's his deal? His arms are looped around my legs and holding my knees. While he is leaning forward quite a bit to keep me from slipping, my arms aren't helping much in keeping me up by just hanging over his shoulders. I try to make myself hold onto him but my limbs aren't cooperating. When I fall a little down his back Suguro just moves his arms further to where he's basically holding my thighs. That can't be comfortable, his shoulders must be in agony from holding me at that angle.

He stumbles over some rubble causing me to lean and push on my right side. I let out a groan and burrow my face into his shoulder. Shit, this can't be good.

"You idiot! How could you have not said anything?!"

"Guess I forgot about it. Kinda had other things to worry about." I manage to mumble.

I can hear him growl, seriously growl. "I swear if you weren't so badly hurt I'd beat some sense into your dumbass."

I manage a weak laugh but that's a bad idea. A sharp jabbing pain radiates from the bullet hole and I hiss as it creeps up my side and back. I can hear footsteps pounding behind us but I don't look back to see who all is following us.

It doesn't take too long, just a few minutes and we're in front of the medical building on campus. The main power must be out because the sliding doors are open halfway. Suguro stops in front of a woman who seems to be in charge just inside the doorway. I don't pay attention and instead look around. Clearly they're running off of generators because only half the lights are on. It also looks like the lobby is being used to treat minor injuries. Doctors and nurses alike are pushing through throngs of people trying to get those with small injuries treated and out as quickly as they can to make room for others. For the most part it looks like the injuries range from a few stitches to broken bones. Anyone with injuries not requiring treatment are quickly pushed out. One student is literally being pushed to the door by a nurse yelling "It's just a sprain! Get out of here so I can treat people that are actually hurt!" The kid simply looks shocked holding his injured limb.

It must have been the second Sheimi noticed how many people are hurt and how few there are to help that she jumps in. She rushes up to girl with burns mottling her right arm and immediately starts asking for plants from Nii.

Her actions seem to jolt something within the others because I hear a "Come on! Let's see how we can help!" I think Paku must be the one who says it because she runs off with Kamiki, Shima, and Konekomaru behind her. Good for them.

Suddenly I'm moving again but this time being placed on a bed. Suguro gives me a look when he stands back up but I don't bother figuring it out, I'm distracted by all of my blood smeared on his back and arms.

A nurse appears at the foot of my bed and starts pushing. She's talking to Yukio as he keeps up next to her. Probably telling her exactly what happened, I can't pick out anything with the loud buzz of so many people talking in one place. Or maybe my hearing is getting worse. That can't be good.

I don't know what kind of room we arrive in at the end of the hall but it's just as chaotic as it is in the lobby only this time it's clear the injuries are more serious. I wince when I see a teacher with a shoulder clearly wretched from its socket and shards of glass protruding from the connecting arm. We only pass through the room and end up in what must be an operating room because it's empty save for equipment. Following us in are more nurses and a second bed.

Yukio gets shoved onto it before he can utter a single word of protest.

I don't get to see much, just a long enough glance to see them yank his coat off to start poking and prodding him. Most of his injuries aren't bad, just some bad gashes, a few burns, and a lot of bruises but it's clear almost everything has healed by now. In fact, the bad gash he'd received on his shoulder is now just a thin cut with a small trickle of blood leaking out. Still, the nurses instantly go to work. Probably doesn't help that Yukio knows most of them personally and they're eager to find out how he's changed.

As for me, they learn pretty quickly how colorful my swearing is.

A nurse quickly cuts off my shirt and as soon as the wound is exposed another pushes a wad of gauze against it. A string of profanity leaves my lips and honestly, the pain is so intense I don't even know what I say. All my mind is processing is the waves of pain constantly assaulting my mind. My side feels like it's on fire and just slowly consuming me with each wave alighting more and more nerves. I can feel tears streaming down the corners of my eyes and onto the pillows but I don't pay attention to them, I just focus on trying to survive this.

The nurses and a few doctors now surround me and are bouncing ideas back and forth. I can't tell exactly what they're saying but one thing's clear, they don't know what to do. They don't know how to treat demons, they're trained to kill them. Would be a bit oxymoronic I guess. It doesn't take long for them to debate what to do because it all boils down to that one point, they don't know how to treat me. They don't know how my body will react to anesthetic, antiseptic, stitches, nothing.

Finally a doctor starts to examine the wound, he pokes around the edges as gently as he can but each touch ignites a fresh wave of pain. He mumbles something about my kidney and manages to look at the hole on my back without flipping me over. I do catch that he says it's a through and through. Thank god, that means they don't have to fish the damn thing out. He stops and starts giving orders so I manage to breath for a second.

By now I've realized a few things. One, my body isn't healing. The bed is covered in gore and more is still flowing out of the hole. I'm not looking at it but I can feel the slow trickle down my skin. I've been in harsh battles before, I've suffered some serious injuries. But every time my body has recovered. Sure some more serious ones took a while but maybe an hour and the bleeding would stop. Hell, I broke my hand in several places and a few ribs in the last fight with Amaimon. That only took half a day to heal.

The second thing I realize is that exorcist bullets are no joke. I have no idea what's so special about them, what they do, or how they're made because frankly I slept through that lecture. I've never been shot with a regular bullet as a human but I'm pretty sure it's not as bad as this. It's just a small hole, how is it that so much of my body feels like it's on fire?

Suddenly a pair of leather straps are placed around my waist and ribs. I don't get a chance to realize what's going on before cuffs go around my wrists and ankles too. I have a brief thought that I could easily break out of these but then I feel the needle.

I swear and scream louder than I thought was possible.

Every time the needle pokes into me I feel it. Every tug to pull layers of fat and muscle back together I feel it. There's no way this is normal, surely the bullet did something more then punch a hole through me. Still, there's nothing I can do but suffer through it. I can feel more tears streaming down my face and I'm trying to squirm away from the needle. The belts hold me in place though and all I feel are new bruises forming where the straps are. There has to be some kind of enchantment on them to keep me from breaking them. They were probably originally used in cells to contain demons for interrogations or whatever.

At some point a cloth gets shoved into my mouth. Whether it's to try and muffle my screaming or they think biting into will help is up for debate.

I don't know how much time goes by but eventually they stop. I manage to take a few deep breathes and open my eyes. Everything is watery and fuzzy, the light far too bright. I can feel my chest rapidly rising and falling with my heavy pants for breath pushing against the strap across my ribs.

I don't get much of a reprieve before a nurse moves up my side letting me know they need to flip me over to work on my back. I attempt to tell him to go to hell and just let me bleed out, but it just comes out as a series of pained groans around the cloth still in my mouth. I feel the leather straps get tugged off and several pairs of hands grip my right side.

"We're going to roll you over Mr Okumura ok?" The nurse says. "Count of 3."

"1." No, I can't do this anymore, leave me alone!

"2." Please, just leave me alone, my body will heal eventually! I'm part demon!

"3." The hands start pushing me. All I feel is somehow worse pain than before and then total darkness.

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A/N: That's it for chapter 1! Like I said before, chapter 2 is pretty much done with just some editing left to do. I'll probably stick to the biweekly update even if I finish sooner and just work on chapter 3 to ensure it'll be ready in time. Please let me know what you think and how I can improve!

Thanks for reading!


	2. Silver

A/N: Hehe, so I know I said biweekly on Chapter 1 but I couldn't resist. This has been done for over a week and I just keep going back and editing it/rereading it to the point where it has to be unhealthy. There's only so many times you can tweak something before you need to get rid of it, right? Anyways, I want to apologize for one thing in advance: I'm a total medical junkie. It doesn't help that I have a BS and pursuing an MPH now on top of having worked in a hospital for several years but I tried really hard not to go overboard. Anyways, enough of this junk! Enjoy Chapter 2 everyone!

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It takes a few minutes for me to be fully aware when I come back to it. On top of that, my senses come online in stages which is a completely disorientating.

First it's the pain that I register. It isn't anything like it was before but I can still feel sharp, shooting pains in my side. I groan and curl in on myself trying to make it go away. I'm already on my uninjured side so all I can do is pull my knees up and tuck my head down. I know it's just an instinctual thing to protect my core in this position but I really don't care, I just want the pain to stop.

A pair of soft hands start running through my hair and another pair grab my left arm. Scent and hearing come to me at that moment but I can't understand anything, just a bunch of noise that can only be described as buzzing at different pitches. I do recognize one smell right away though, Sheimi. There's no way of mistaking the barrage of plant smells for anything else. I can also smell the overwhelming stench that can only be described as hospital. It's hard to pick out things individually, there's just the overwhelming scent of cleaning products and something else that just puts you immediately on edge. My sense of smell didn't heighten too much when I changed and I never put much thought into it, but now I'm wishing it had so I can get more information without opening my eyes.

Once I piece together as much as I can, which honestly isn't much more, I slowly open my eyes but everything is too intense. The light is too harsh, colors are too bright, it's too much of an overload. I hiss in pain and close my eyes again, curling further into a ball. Sheimi's hands pause in my hair but the one's on my arm grasp a little tighter. Hearing starts to get a little better, the noises no longer sounding muffled like I'm listening through a wall. After another minute passes and I can finally pick out voices as well as understand them.

"-'s ok Rin, we turned off the lights. That should help a bit. It's ok."

I slowly open my eyes again. Sure enough, the lights are out and the curtains are pulled shut. I can see the orange glow of a street light bleeding out behind them but really the only sources of light are the green glow from various machines in the room. I notice my left arm held out straight by Suguro, one hand is holding onto my bicep while the other is at my wrist. I look at the crook of my elbow and see that a needle is in it.

Well that explains why he's keeping my arm straight. I try not to imagine what would have happened if I'd bent my arm.

I follow the tube that's coming out of it to a heavy looking machine on wheels. There's two larger wheels moving on the outside and a few digital numbers glowing on a screen in the middle but they don't mean anything to me. I notice another line is coming out of it and follow it to Yukio. He's got a matching tube and needle in his right arm resting on top of the sheets of his bed. He's propped up a bit on his back and sound asleep. Someone has taken off his glasses and laid them on the table against the wall.

I take a second to really examine my brother. He doesn't look relaxed in his sleep. His brows are furrowed and his nose is wrinkled like he's having a bad dream. I hope he's ok, it pains me to see him like that and I really want to talk to him about what happened. Other than that though he looks physically fine. He's in a light blue hospital gown covering most of his upper body but the injuries I remember on his arms and face are already gone.

I let out a sigh and look at the machine connecting us. What the hell is this thing? I must have a confused look on my face because Suguro starts talking.

"You lost a lot of blood and passed out during surgery. When you didn't wake up right away they realized your demon blood wasn't replenishing itself so they started a slow blood transfusion. They didn't know how much blood you would need or how your healing works so they just hacked this set up together and hoped for the best. Bit of a shortage on half demon children of Satan to figure this shit out."

I manage a small smile at his joke. He's sitting on a stool with wheels hunched over a bit to keep a grip on my arm. He's in clean clothes and I can smell a bit of soap still on him. I wonder briefly how much of my blood was on him which reminds me about what they did before I passed out. I feel my expression fall.

"Well I wouldn't exactly call it a surgery…" I mumble as a lame joke mostly to myself. Suguro seems to hear me though and his eyes widen. Before he can say anything Sheimi speaks up.

"How are you feeling Rin?"

Her voice is soft behind me. I try to roll onto my back so I can at least see her but a shooting pain in my side prevents me before I've moved much. I manage to keep myself from groaning in pain but Suguro doesn't miss what happens. He jerks his head to call her over to this side.

I can hear her quick footsteps and in a second she's on her knees by my bed.

"Oh I'm sorry, I should have known better! What can I do? Where does it hurt? Should I call the doctors?" She's babbling, something I've noticed she does when she's nervous.

"I'm fine I'm fine." My voice is hoarse and my throat is beyond sore, how long have I been out? Did I scream that much with the stitches? "If you don't mind though, could you get me some water?" I hadn't even finished the last word before the door shuts behind her.

The following silence is a bit unnerving since all I can hear are mine and Yukio's heart rate monitors.

"How long have I been out?" I look up at Suguro.

"About six hours." This time it's Shima who speaks up somewhere behind me. I had detected another person being here but I'm surprised it's him. "It's almost midnight, the battle was over 24 hours ago."

"You really haven't missed much." Sugero picks up. "The train tracks were easily cleared so pretty much everyone that could leave, left. Not too many civilians remained but those hurt were taken to surrounding hospitals. This place is strictly for staff and students so after people were fine to go they hopped onto the trains. Seems like nobody wants to stick around here, can't say I blame them. I'm sure a ton of people got temptaits so they really saw what happened. The place has been pretty empty for the last few hours too."

I take a second to process that before I realize something. I feel my heart stop and can hear the monitor stutter it's beeping. "How many people died?"

Sugero makes a face like he knew I was going to ask that question but was really dreading it.

"Last I heard 207, almost all civilians in the city…What? He wouldn't have let it drop and lying wouldn't have done any good." That last part is directed at Suguro who's glaring at him.

I drop my gaze to the needle still in my arm. I had started to feel better but now I'm feeling cold again with the knot in my stomach making me feel nauseas. All those people…they died because-

I don't even get to finish that train of thought because Suguro gives me a light smack upside the head. It doesn't really hurt, but it does get my attention.

"Oh no you don't, don't you dare start thinking like that. I can see it in your face, it isn't your fault. If it weren't for you and Yukio that number would be at least five times that and growing because nobody else would have been able to destroy it. The portal spawned here at the school, you and Ms. Shura kept Satan distracted for hours which allowed civilians and everyone here at the school to flee." He takes a deep breath, shoulders heaving in response. "It's because of you two that anyone is still alive." He says the last part a lot softer, gentle almost.

I don't get to respond because the door opens again with Sheimi and a few nurses. Sheimi stands off to the side in my field of vision holding a styrofoam cup with a straw while the nurses walk up to me.

"Good to see that you're awake, we were getting a bit worried." I don't really listen or focus on her, I'm looking back up at Suguro. "Unfortunately we're playing a bit of a guessing game with all of this but since you're awake we'll take that as a good sign and stop the blood transfusion."

She moves over to the machine and pushes a few buttons. It lets out a long beep and stops humming as the wheels stop moving. The other nurse pulls the needle out of Yukio's arm and wraps the site with tape. He doesn't really move, just flinches slightly before settling back down into his restless slumber. When the nurse who shut the machine off turns to me Suguro gives me a look before getting up and letting go of my arm. I hadn't noticed how comforting that was until he let's go. The nurse doesn't pull out the needle though, she just twists a portion a few inches away and the tube detaches. The other nurse takes the tube still attached to the machine and hands her a syringe filled with a clear solution but missing the needle part.

"Thanks Yume. We're going to keep this in your arm just in case we need to do something else. In the meantime, just be careful." She injects the clear stuff into the tube and the last bits of Yukio's blood disappears into my arm. She screws a little cap on before taping it down to my arm. The clear stuff is cold and makes me shiver, it also leaves a weird taste in my mouth and smell in my nose.

"Excuse me ma'am, um, how long will Rin and Yuki have to be here?" Sheimi's nervous voice breaks the silence as the nurses continue their examinations.

The nurse, Yume I assume, taking notes by Yukio's monitors answers.

"Unfortunately we're not really sure. Like Mei said, we're pretty much flying blind with how to treat them. We don't even have baselines for vitals." She finishes jotting down what she needs and turns to face us. "Typically for patients that require a blood transfusion due to injury we like to keep them for a few days to ensure no complications arise. Same case for GSW patients. However…"

"You guys really don't know what you're dealing with, we get it." Suguro rolls his eyes.

Mei nods towards Yukio. "Mr. Okumura, Yukio that is, should be clear to go tomorrow as long as he doesn't show any problems from giving blood but I'm willing to bet you'll have to stay here for a few days Rin." At that she turns to look at me. "We need to keep an eye on that wound. Speaking of which, we need to examine it. Is it alright for your friends to stay or would you like some privacy?"

Sheimi looks like she's about to heard everyone out and I feel like a weight has been dropped into my stomach. I don't like the idea of being alone, even if Yukio is asleep only a few feet away. "Nono!" too fast, too desperate sounding. Way to go Okumura. I take a breath and try to ignore how the monitor betrays me and my anxiety by beeping frantically. "They can stay, that's fine."

Suguro moves back a bit closer into my field of vision behind Nurse Mei.

Mei moves the thin blanket and sheet that's been sitting around my waist to my thighs. It's only then that I notice I'm wearing the same blue hospital gown as Yukio. I wonder briefly when they put me in one because I was still wearing my black jeans and cut up shirt when they stitched me up. Yume moves to the other side of my bed. She plucks gently at the fabric of the gown to pull it up, nudging my right arm to move it out of the way as well.

I'm watching them do this but I regret looking once the material is out of the way.

A thick piece of non-stick gauze is taped over the area on my stomach but it doesn't hide much. The skin is a mottled blue and purple all the way to my belly button and wrapping around my side. The bruising is bad enough to look at but silvery colored tendrils are also poking their way out from under the bandage and that's what makes me feel sick. Mei begins to pull at the tape and I have to look away. I've never had a weak stomach but if the rest of me looks like that I don't want to look at the stitches.

My gaze settles on Suguro and I almost wish I had kept looking. He's extremely pale with wide eyes and mouth hanging open slightly. Well shit, guess it looks awful to others too.

"Is it that bad?" Shima seems to notice his expression too and edges over to have a look. He flinches and looks away immediately. "Y-Yep, it's that bad." He mutters.

"Gee thanks, really reassuring." I mumble back.

Suguro gives his head a quick shake before looking over at Mei. "What's the silver stuff?"

"From what we've been able to guess it's the residue from the bullet reacting with his demon blood." She takes out what looks like a black marker from her pocket and starts drawing on me. It takes me a second to figure it out but she's marking where the silvery lines stop. I'm still refusing to look down at the stitches. She passes the marker over to Yume who starts marking on my back. "I'm not sure where you all are in your Exwire training but here's what it comes down to: the standard bullets used by Dragoons, much like all Knight weapons, are specifically made for Exorcists."

"Yeah, when the bullet gets fired the energy from the small explosion triggers the engravings on the casing to allow spiritual energy into the shot. Knight weapons work in a similar way with the spiritual energy going into the strikes via engravings in the hilt and blade" Suguro provides.

Nurse Mei has her back to Suguro so he misses how her eyebrows rise, clearly impressed by his knowledge.

"Explains why so many Dragoons are riflemen and snipers, must be easier to put more energy into a single shot than a little in multiple." Sheimi provides from her spot on the wall.

"You have some excellent teachers." I hear Yume say. She's done marking on me and I can feel her applying a cold substance on the stitches. "While the Dragoon's spiritual energy put into the shot is what makes it deadly there's still damage that can be done by just the bullet. It takes years of training to be able to put energy into each shot so as a backup if a Dragoon misses one, the bullets have a coating that breaks up upon impact. This coating has a lot in it, but the most important ingredient is holy water."

"So the bullet can't actually kill a demon but it can incapacitate them, right?" Shima is looking at the nurse behind me, clearly trying his hardest not to look at what they're doing. I can tell he's uncomfortable, hell his face is even paler then Suguro's. So why's he staying?

"Correct, that's what we're thinking is happening here. The residue from the coating is reacting with his demon blood since the bullet used didn't have the spiritual energy to make it fatal. That being said, I'm sure it could have been fatal if it had hit your heart, a major artery, or head." Yume starts taping down a new bandage. She tries to be gentle but it still hurts when she runs her finger over the tape to make it stick to my skin, I can't help but flinch away.

"Sorry," she murmurs. She puts the last piece of tape on the same way. "Done. The silvery lines are actually tracks the residue has made through your body as it follows your veins. Fortunately the bullet didn't hit any major arteries and managed to miss your kidney so this should stay localized. We're keeping track of how far it's spreading to be safe, hence the marks. The best way we'll be able to tell if it somehow to hit your blood stream or an organ is this will expand rapidly but we'll also be able to tell when your body is fighting it when they shrink."

"Makes sense." Suguro murmurs. Nurse Mei finishes putting new bandages on my front in a similar fashion as Yume. She pulls the gown back down and gently pulls the bedding back up to my shoulder.

"We'll be back every few hours to check on you and your brother, push the call button if you need anything ok?"

I manage a nod and they leave with the heavy machine.

Shima lets out a heavy sigh. "Well that's a lot to take in…"

Sheimi rushes up to my side and holds out the cup. "Thanks Sheimi." I giver he a smile before taking a huge gulp of water from the straw. The relief is instantaneous on my throat, the cool liquid instantly sooths the irritated tissue. I try to savor it and make it last, but I drain the cup in four huge gulps.

Everyone is quiet. Shima is picking at a thread hanging off his white shirt, Suguro is looking at the door with his arms crossed, and Sheimi is still on her knees by my bed looking at the spot where my stitches are hidden. The silence isn't peaceful, it's tense, heavy. I don't like it all and I can't figure out why.

I clear my throat. "So, where's everyone else?" Shima's shoulders sag in relief, I'm sure he's grateful to have a change in topic.

"Koneko, Kamiki, and Paku are all at the dorm you and Yukio live in. Seems like that one is the only one not heavily damaged." Suguro says while still looking at the door.

"We helped out as much as we could around the hospital but they made Bon leave right away. Health concern having that much blood all over him, can't say I blame them for that call." Shima gives an awkward laugh. "Anyways, he's the one who checked out our dorms and got our stuff. Well, mine, Koneko, and his that is. They weren't in too bad of shape but no power and water pipes busted. After he cleaned up he came back here and let us know. The others left probably a few hours ago for some sleep, we opted to stay here with you guys for the night. We planned on trading out around 6."

I blink a few times. They planned on taking shifts?

"Trading out?"

"Well yeah, we weren't going to let you and Yuki be here all by yourselves." Sheimi sits back with a wide smile, her hands in her lap still holding the cup.

I really look at my friends then. Sheimi's blonde hair is a little tangled and wavy in places. She must have taken a quick shower and let her hair air dry. I wince at the hand shaped bruise around her neck, that's going to kill Yukio when he wakes up. I'm sure it hurts her a lot too, no way being choked unconscious wouldn't. I can tell she's tired. She may be sitting up and smiling, but her shoulders are drooped and she has creases around her eyes. Not surprising, she and the others have to have been up for almost 48 hours now. Shima is in his usual casual attire, though a bit more rumpled than usual. He doesn't have his staff but I'm sure it's somewhere in the room. He's got a nasty bruise poking out from under his shirt along his shoulder and a few scrapes on his face. Suguro is in his purple sweat pants and black t-shirt, haven't seen him in those since the exercise with the Reaper. He has a small bandage along the right side of his jaw and some bruising under his left eye. I wonder how his ribs are, he took a hard hit. His stance is stiff with his arms crossed and his shoulders tense, but not in a way to reflect being hurt. What's going on?

"I really appreciate it you guys, but don't feel like you have to stay here. I know it all looks bad, but really we're fine."

At that Suguro jerks and finally looks at me again. "We're your friends dumbass, that's what they do. Plus you nearly died! You really think we're going to bail after that?"

"Well…no. But aren't you guys tired?"

"Of course we're tired." Suguro snaps. "It's ju-" Shima elbows him in the ribs and Sheimi gives him a sharp look. He shuts up with a grumble.

Sheimi puts a hand on my arm. "It's just we're also still worried about both of you." She continues in a very soft tone. "You guys have been through a lot, we want to be here."

I can finally feel a smile crack. My friends…Sure there were a lot of mixed emotions when they first found out about my lineage, but I don't hold it against them. Sheimi admitted she was a bit hurt I didn't trust her with my secret but she said she understood after seeing how much I struggled with it. Izumo has always been blunt and says exactly what she's been thinking. To be honest, I appreciated her a lot more after her little pep talk in the hall with the candles. I know it was Izumo just being Izumo, but I really needed that. Shima just said he was confused and apologized for being distant. He never said or did anything, just kind of stood back from it all. Not surprising with how Konekomaru and Suguro acted. Konekomaru apologized a lot but I forgave him as soon as I knew what was going on with the Gufu. We do crazy things when we're scared, I wasn't mad at him. As for Suguro…I can't fault him for being protective, but I admit his reaction stung the most. I had hoped acting like nothing had changed would show them I was still the person they met at the beginning of the school year but that proved futile. I mean, saying they weren't my friends anymore hit me the hardest.

Growing up I never really had friends. I had my brother, dad, and the monks at the monastery, but no one else. Can't say I really fault kids my age for not wanting to be my friend. I was loud, I never paid attention to the teachers, I got into fights, I was reckless, but the thing is I still had strong morals. I could have easily gotten into the crowd with the other "bad kids" but I still had a strong sense of right and wrong, I didn't want to do what they did outside of school.

So that left me alone, and I never liked it.

Coming to this school, I made friends, real friends for the first time in my life. I finally met people who wanted to around me, support me, and cared about me. To have one of them say they weren't anymore, it hurt more than I could explain.

Suguro did approach me after the fight with the Gufu and apologize. I wish I could say I forgave him as easily as I did with Konekomaru, but it took a while. He had managed to hit my biggest weakness and it took some time to heal.

But now, now I know I can call them my friends. We've been through a lot together, but after the other night I know I can trust them and that they really care about me. They came to the rooftop when they found out what Ernst was doing, they tried to protect me from Satan, they got hurt because they cared more about my safety than their own.

I look each one of them in the eye. "Thanks guys, that means a lot to me." A yawn slips out at the end.

Sheimi giggles and moves the hand from my arm back to my hair. "Get some rest Rin, we'll be here until the others come." Shima nods behind her and Suguro does a quick jerk of his head. Hardly a nod, but I know he'll be here too. Sheimi starts running her fingers through my hair again and I instantly start to drift off. I close my eyes and know there's a smile still on my lips as I fall asleep.

* * *

A/N: Please let me know if I need to cut down on the medical...stuff, I don't want to take away from the story! I promise this chapter is really "the big one" with that but there will be some in future chapters. Thank you all for your support, I hope you enjoyed this installment!


	3. Secrets

AN: Whew, I made it on my biweekly deadline! Er, well at least for those in American central time zone and further west...Anyways, enjoy the update!

* * *

"Got any two's Izumo?"

"Go fish."

"Hey Rin, got any two's?"

"God damnit Konekomaru!" I throw the two cards in his general direction just to make his life a little more difficult. Izumo only lets out a giggle but the other are flat out laughing. They're cheating, I just know it. After losing the last six games of Go Fish there's no other explanation.

Konekomaru picks the two cards off the floor and carefully places them into his hand, still chuckling softly.

It's about mid-morning and we're just killing time, Paku is the one who brought the cards. Not much else to do around here to be honest. True to Shima's word I woke up to Konekomaru, Paku, and Izumo being in their place. And as an added bonus, Kuro had joined us at some point during the night. The demon cat had somehow gotten into the hospital and curled up at the foot of my bed while I slept. The moment I woke up though he moved to my belly and he's stayed there ever since. It doesn't bother me since I'm still on my side but it's made playing card games a little more difficult. There's no way the nurses are ok with him being here but they've yet to say anything, just worked around him during the checkups.

The pain in my side has gotten better, no longer a sharp shooting pain but aching with some occasional sharp throbbing. Still, the silver lines haven't gone away. In fact they've done the opposite, now they've gotten longer and new tendrils have branched off. My midsection is covered in black marks with times the nurses checked them. Between that, the spider web pattern of silver, and kaleidoscope of purples, greens, and yellows of the bruising my body is starting to look like an abstract painting.

The nurses and doctors are nervous, I can tell that much. They keep saying they're not concerned but I can hear the whispers as they leave. It also doesn't help that early this morning I saw the nurses take a very pink looking urine sample from the catheter drainage bag at the end of my bed. So much for my kidney being ok, Yukio had to explain what that meant. As if it wasn't embarrassing enough to have a catheter and a bag of piss I had to ask my brother if said piss being pink was a bad thing.

Yukio left about an hour ago. The nurses did a brief check-up before discharging him and of course all his injuries had healed. No bruises, no broken skin, and he showed no problems from giving blood. Sure they poked and prodded at him for a moment, but in that moment a few young nurses had poked their heads in asking if they could "steal Mr. Okumura to run additional tests." I assumed these girls knew my brother before all this, probably more girls falling over themselves trying to get his attention. Jerk knew exactly what the tittering girls had meant too. He had sputtered and floundered for something to say but in the end the older nurse at his bedside had shooed them off threatening to assign them to cleaning bed pans.

Once they left he changed into his dirty clothes from the other night in record time. He left soon after saying he was going to shower and pack a bag. When I asked him why he said that he intended to stay here in the hospital with me.

"Noriko, got any 9's?"

"Nope! Go fish!" Konekomaru grabs a card from the messy pile on the stool. We'd situated it between my bed and Yukio's where they're sitting.

"Any Ja-" Paku's sentence is stopped when the door bursts open.

"I don't understand how you hide your tail!" A duffle bag goes flying into the corner of the room. "Or how you even wear pants!"

Yukio is standing in the doorway oozing frustration. His shoulders are heaving as he pants and his hair is disheveled. His t-shirt isn't tucked in but it doesn't hide that his jeans are nearly halfway down his thighs with his previously mentioned tail clearly visible behind him. I notice for the first time that it's the same dark brown color as his hair. The short, fine fur seems to be standing on end and the long fur at the tip is puffed up to at least three times its normal volume.

We sit in silence for a moment before we all explode into laughter, even Kuro who was asleep next to me is laughing. My side hurts from it but it's so worth it seeing my brother's face turn scarlet.

"I'm serious Rin!" He throws his arms up in frustration.

"I know, I know!" I manage before bursting into laughter again when my eyes land back on his tail, twitching and flicking to further convey his irritation. Yukio grumbles something and stalks over to an empty chair by his bed.

I wipe my eyes that had teared up from a mixture of mirth and pain. "Ok, ok I'm sorry Yukio." I take a deep breath to calm myself down. "It took me a while to be able to do much with my tail, at first I just shoved it down a pant leg."

"But it keeps moving!" He whines the last part like a little kid.

"I know! That's why I wore a belt around my chest to dad's funeral, it was to keep my tail in place and not look like I was smuggling snakes at the graveyard."

Yukio groans at that and throws an arm over his face.

"Sorry, it just takes time to be able to develop any control. It's like learning how to work another arm, weird and not easy. Wrapping it around yourself and keeping it still is a lot harder than it looks. As for the pants thing, have you seriously not noticed that I cut holes in all of mine? Jeeze it was the first thing I did after the secret was out so I didn't have to hide it or pay attention to it. Not exactly comfortable keeping it hidden all the time." I am so happy to not have to do that anymore. Tail cramps are a thing and they really suck. "It's not that bad though! It works as a great counterbalance when fighting! It's just sort of cat-like the rest of the time being in tune with your emotions." I flick my tail in emphasis at the end. It's been just hanging off the bed for the most part.

"Explains why he looked like a ticked off house cat when he stormed in here." Izumo mutters while re-organizing her cards.

There's silence for all of two seconds before we burst out laughing again.

* * *

It's not long after lunch when Suguro and Shima come back. It hasn't been more than six hours since the others got here and I'm admittedly worried by their lack of sleep. There's no way they're rested especially with how long they were up before. It also doesn't help those concerns that Shima comes in holding an energy drink and Suguro somehow looks grumpier than usual. I protest their lack of sleep but Shima just brushes it off saying they slept some after I was out.

Yukio asks where Sheimi is after a few moments. Suguro says she's stuck at the shop and that she said she'll be back as soon as possible. That worries me even more, what could possibly be going on at the shop that requires her attention?

After that Paku takes off for home. Izumo clearly wants her to stay but doesn't say anything as her friend waves goodbye.

"She's not even a Cram student anymore, it wouldn't be fair asking her to stay with us. She belongs at home with her family." She mumbles as the door closes behind her.

The rest of the afternoon is honestly boring. We play card games, sometimes someone pulls out a book, we go through the basic cable channels on TV, but everything feels off somehow. My friends seem tense, on edge. I swear Shima nearly fell out of his chair when his phone chimed for a text message. What I also notice is that they don't leave me and Yukio alone. Sure one or two will leave for a while to get a snack, take a walk, but there's always someone in the room with us.

I was starting to get annoyed.

I've been wanting to talk to Yukio for a while and even though it's not necessarily a private conversation I don't want to have it with an audience. I want to ask him about his new demonic attributes. Did his hearing get a little better like mine? Clearly his vision is still the same since he's kept his glasses. Does the fur from his tail travel up the small of his back too? What about his strength? I want to know how we're the same, how we're different.

I also want to know what he's thinking. I didn't take things that well when my powers were awoken. Of course I was upset about dad, but finding out I really was a demon like all those people said when I was growing up? That was what kept going through my head for the first week. Did the whole world know and I was the only one in the dark? Dad, Yukio, everyone at the church, old teachers, classmates, they either knew for a fact or suspected. Guilt, sadness, anger, betrayal, loss, self-loathing, all those feelings raged like a vicious storm and I alternated from wanting to scream myself hoarse, destroying anything I could get my hands on, and just collapsing on the floor and hoping the earth would swallow me up.

Yukio though, what's going through his mind? He knew I was a demon all along, so he has to be taking his transformation better than I did, right? And what about all the stuff with Ernst? Everything that happened when he was a Paladin? What about the fight?

We don't get a chance to talk until well after dark. Only one of the cafeterias are still running and Izumo says it's always busy. Plenty of staff members are still here and they hand out only a few options for each meal. So when Suguro, Konekomaru, and Izumo leave to get meals for us I know it'll be almost an hour before they're back. They leave Shima behind to watch us and sure enough the energy drink wears off leaving him passed out in the only decent chair in the room not 10 minutes after they leave.

Yukio waves a hand in front of his face, nothing. He pokes Shima a few times, still nothing. Yukio heaves a relieved sigh and turns to me.

"Well it seems like we finally have some time alone."

"About time, what's the deal with that?"

"I don't know, but something is definitely up." Yukio plops back down on his bed and pulls his tail into his lap. He made it clear he wasn't thrilled at the prospect of cutting a hole in his pants but did so anyways. He seems to take every opportunity to hold onto it and fidget with it now. He starts carding his fingers through it, breaking up any tangles he finds. A new nervous habit perhaps?

They are acting weird. Kuro looks up at me, speaking for the first time today.

"Well you've been awful quiet Kuro. I was wondering what was up."

At that the demon cat turns his head slowly, giving Yukio a hateful look. You SHOT Rin! How dare you! I would have never let you ride me knowing that! And that's AFTER you almost SHOT **ME**.

Yukio looks shocked, his tail slipping from his fingers and sliding back down onto the floor behind him. I let him sit in silence for a few seconds before laughing awkwardly and scratching at Kuro's favorite spot behind his ear in an attempt to ease the tension.

"Kuro, Kuro it's ok. It wasn't him, it was Satan." Kuro gives me a sidelong look, eyebrow raised in skepticism. "What! You saw everything that happened!" The demon cat slowly lays his head on his paws, maintaining eye contact the whole time. I roll my eyes.

"Kuro I'm sorry, really. I let things get to my head and blindly followed someone who made promises and claims that I should have known were too good to be true! I swear, I never wanted to hurt you."

But you almost did, doesn't matter if you wanted to or not. Kuro doesn't look over at him and leans until his back is to Yukio, effectively ending his part in the conversation. Well that explains why he's been so quiet.

I look up at Yukio to see him studying the floor tiles, his tail limp behind him. "We do need to talk about all of that you know? I really don't know anything about Ernst and why you helped him. Heck, I think I missed a lot of info in that short time I was blacked out. One moment I'm up on that torture device and the next I'm looking at my demon brother possessed by Satan." Yukio seems to lean forward more, trying to make himself smaller.

"Look, Rin, I know what I did was wrong but it was with good intentions." He says softly to the floor. "I know we need to talk about it but can…can we wait a bit? Something else seems to be going on, something that's being kept secret from us and I'd rather get that sorted out. I still need to get my thoughts together on everything else." Yukio looks up at that last part.

I nod, understanding what he needs. "What could be going on though?"

"I'm not sure to be honest." Yukio reaches behind him and pulls his tail back into his lap.

"Well, what about Sheimi? She never came back today, do you have any ideas as to why? I mean, the others said she'd come back as soon as she took care of whatever was going on at the shop."

Yukio starts fidgeting with his tail again as he thinks. I readjust as much as I can on my side since my shoulder is starting to go numb. I'm so sick of being on my side but I've yet to be able to get onto my back comfortably. The nurses tried to help me earlier but the pain came back full force once my back touched the bed. They tried to use pillows to ease the pain and keep the area free from contact, but it didn't work. In the end they put me back on my side and readjusted the pillows.

Yukio lets out a sigh after a minute of silence. "I don't know. She said the shop and gardens were fine when she got here last night when you were still out. Perhaps there's a lot of orders at the shop? Exorcists are still out in the city clearing out the lower level demons that came through the rips caused by the portal and making sure nothing stronger came with them."

"Do you think it has something to do with what's going on with the others? What they're hiding?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, I haven't talked to anyone else. Haven't you noticed that every time I've gotten up to go to the bathroom or take a quick walk someone goes with me? They're keeping an eye on both of us and I think they're trying to keep me from talking to any staff members."

"That is weird…Well, what if we just ask them? Call them out?" I trust my friends, I really do. But this? This feels wrong, like there's something big going on and they're doing everything they can to keep us in the dark. This isn't right.

"I don't know, what if we're wrong? What if it's us they're worried about?"

"Well yeah of course they're worried about us, they're our friends. That's probably why they're hiding something."

Yukio shakes his head. "No Rin, that's not what I mean." He takes a deep breath. "What if it's us? What if it's who we are and what we've done that they're acting this way…what if they're afraid of us?"

I hold back a laugh. Afraid of us? No way that's it, they said they were fine! They apologized for acting the way they did before! They've accepted who I am, why would they feel differently now? Besides, if they were afraid of us why would they be acting this way? Wouldn't they distance themselves, try to get away?

The expression "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer" comes mind.

No! I shake my head, trying to push that thought out. These people are my friends, there's no way that's true! Suguro carried me on his back to the hospital when he realized I was hurt! Shima stayed even though he was clearly uncomfortable! Konekomaru pushed away before, wouldn't he do that again? What about Sheimi and Izumo? Surely Izumo would be her usually blunt self and say it to my face!

My musings are cut short when Suguro, Konekomaru, and Izumo come in toting dinners for everyone. Each one carries two plastic to-go boxes in plastic bags. Shima jolts awake from his chair, immediately alert at the prospect of food. Konekomaru asks what dish he want's but I've already tuned them out. I take one last Yukio and see that he's plastered on a fake smile as he inspects the options for dinner. He doesn't really think that they're afraid of us, right?


	4. Punishment

A/N: I'm sorry this is a little late guys, hopefully the update is well worth the wait to y'all! Thanks so much for all your support so far :D

* * *

The following morning is when things start getting interesting. It's a welcomed change for me since there's no way I can survive very long and boring days like yesterday for god knows how long.

It starts when I open my eyes to find that Yukio is already up. That in itself isn't surprising since he's always been a naturally early riser but this morning is different.

Yukio is propped up against his pillows fully dressed with damp hair from a shower but he's hunched over his open hands with the most broken expression I've ever seen. Disgust, anger, fear all play out across his features that aren't hidden behind his hair and glasses.

I don't have to wonder for long what's caused this because I notice Sheimi sitting at the end of his bed with Kuro curled up in her lap. For a moment I'm really excited to see her, I was really worried when she didn't come by yesterday despite what the others said. I look her over to try and find a reason for why she was gone but she looks fine save for a worried expression on her face and a hand gently rubbing her neck. She pulls her hand back a bit, revealing the colorful hand shaped bruise wrapping around her slender neck. The colors are more vibrant then I remember against her pale skin.

It takes me a second to realize what's going on. Oh, right, duh. I was wondering when this was going to happen.

Yukio hunches forward more and chokes out "I'm so sorry."

Sheimi heaves a sigh like he's said that many times already. She drops the hand on her neck and places it on his knee. "Yuki really, it's fine. It wasn't you that did it, I don't blame you at all. I was trying to bring you back and I got hurt because of what I did."

Yukio finally looks up at her. He's not crying or anything but I can see how hurt he is. "It doesn't matter!" He hisses. "If I'd been stronger this wouldn't have happened! None of this would have happened!" He throws his hands out and I'm pretty sure that last part is directed at me.

The following silence is only broken by the continuous soft beeping from the machines I'm attached to.

"Geeze will you give it a rest already?" Izumo's voice cuts through the room like a knife somewhere behind me. "It wasn't you that hurt her and you can keep going through ifs, ands, or buts all you want but in the end what happened, happened. Moriyama doesn't blame you or anything, just accept that already."

Good old Izumo, I really do like that bluntness.

"Izumo! You'll wake up Rin!" Sheimi whispers franticly.

"He's been up for a while." I hear her casually turn a page. How the heck did she know I'm awake? I have my back to her!

Yukio and Sheimi turn their gazes to me and all I can do is offer a weak smile to confirm that yes, I had been up for a while.

Sheimi moves like she's about to say something, probably ask for me to agree with her but the door opens. I look as best as I can but since the door is beyond the foot of my bed so it isn't much. Kuro jumps from Sheimi's lap to my bed and returns to his usual spot by my belly. He doesn't lay down all the way though, he keeps his head up and alert for the newcomers.

After a second two nurses that have come in several times before and someone new come into my line of sight. He stands out a lot simply because he's not wearing scrubs or even a white coat. Instead, he's dressed in sharply pressed black pants and a dark red button up with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. The exposed skin is bronzed from what must be a lifetime out in the sun and stretched over enormous forearms. I examine him further and notice broad shoulders stretching his shirt. Is this guy a body builder or something in his free time? It sure seems that way since he's built like a tank. I look up at his face and feel a chill run down my spine. He's got shaggy blonde hair and a scruffy looking beard which ordinarily I'd attribute to a laid back dude, but the moment I study his face is when that thought goes out the window. His eyes are a bright, piercing, and calculating blue that make me feel small and exposed. The age lines and wrinkles around his eyes and forehead make him look like he's constantly scowling which does not ease that feeling. Kuro also growls softly next to me.

He takes a step in front of the two nurses and clasps his hands together. "Misters Okumura and friends I assume?"

He doesn't speak loudly but his deep baritone still seems to echo through the room. He doesn't give us a chance to respond either. "My name is Dr. Noah Thompson, I'm an Upper First Class Exorcist from the Queensland branch in Australia."

Well that explains the weird accent.

He holds out his hand to one of the nurses and she places a black binder in it. "I've been summoned here to oversee your care since there's such little understanding of demon biology. I run a research facility dedicated to that so I'm the most qualified for this."

Well that makes sense but this guy still creeps me out.

He flips open the binder and starts going through the pages. "I won't bother going over all of this with you but I will say I would like to start with an MRI. We'll do this without contrast since I've found that demon bodies metabolize the dye too fast but it'll still give us a better idea of what's going on with that kidney." He pulls a pen out of his breast pocket and starts writing in the binder.

…Huh? Most of that went right over my head, were those really words?

"Yukio Okumura, would you be willing to do an MRI as well for comparison?" Dr. Thompson doesn't look up from writing. "It may not be necessary but it would be for the best to be safe."

"Um, of course I don't mind."

Somehow it sounded like he wasn't really giving Yukio a choice.

"Very good." He clicks his pen closed before sticking it back in his pocket. He passes a paper to one of the nurses and the binder to the other before heading out the door. "One of you sheilas scrounge up a machine, I'll be back after bumming a fag."

Ok he's definitely speaking another language and judging by the confused look shared by the lingering nurses, no one understood that last bit.

"Well he was interesting." Izumo mutters after the door clicks shut behind the nurses. I can hear her typing out a text message on her phone.

"Yeah…interesting." Sheimi agrees.

I don't like him…Kuro's ears are pulled back and he's still glaring at the door. Well great, as if I didn't have enough to worry about.

* * *

The rest of the morning is not pleasant. The two nurses from earlier come to get me less than an hour later by wheeling my whole bed to a room on the first floor. This machine is a hulking beast that fills most of the space but that's not the worst part. This thing is LOUD.

They give me headphones to try and muffle the sounds but they don't do much. For an hour I lay in that thing just wanting all the knocking, buzzing, and beeping to stop. When they pull me out my ears are ringing and a migraine is starting. At least this can't get any worse, right?

Wrong.

Dr. Thompson doesn't even let me rest to alleviate the migraine before pushing me into an x-ray room. They take pictures of every square inch they can before pushing me into a lab. It just keeps going from there, room after room, test after test. Vision, dental, blood draws, cheek swabs, blood pressure, something with a million wires that examines my heart, every part of me imaginable gets tested before its even noon. When I'm finally taken back to the room I'm absolutely miserable and exhausted.

"MRI nearly kill you too?"

I crack an eye open and see Yukio kneeling next to my bed. It's hard to tell but I can see that he's feeling miserable too. He reaches over and puts his hand on top of my head, ruffling my hair but also lightly scratching my scalp. That helps the pain. I push into his hand to get him to keep doing it. He gives a soft huff but complies.

Kuro jumps back onto my bed and rubs his face against my shoulder. Poor guy did not want to get left behind during my tests no matter how many times Sheimi offered to pet him. I scratch his ears and the base of his horns eliciting a few purrs.

"I'm so sorry Rin…" Ugh, not again! I turn to glare at him, I am so not in the mood to fight his little pity party.

"How sweet."

I know that voice! I jerk my head over and sure enough Shura is leaning against the wall looking bored. She also has two guys on either side of her in exorcist uniforms.

"You could have knocked." Yukio glares over his shoulder.

"You should have been able to hear me approaching." She snaps back.

"What are you even doing here?"

"Taking witness statements and all that jazz. Unfortunately a lot happened and we need to get the facts straight. It also seems like we need to reopen the Yuri Egin case since a few people were less than honest 16 years ago." Shura shrugs, looking like she would much rather be doing anything else. "Anyways, we already got Suguro, Miwa, and Shima's last night. We still need both of yours, Kamiki's, and Moriyama's."

"Why did they assign you to do this?" I ask.

A smirk appears before she says "You seem to have forgotten how skilled my interviewing skills are."

I flinch at that and feel phantom pains from when I was "interviewed".

"Anyways, let's get this shit over with. They gave us one of the conference rooms on the first floor and the recording equipment is already down there." Shura stretches her arms up over her head as she pushes off from the wall. "Chicken, you're up first."

"We're being interviewed separately? Can't you just do that here with everyone?" Yukio's grip on my bed has tightened.

"Yeah, can't I listen in? I haven't even gotten the full story about mom yet." I feel slightly guilty having only just remembered that detail. I mean sure a lot has happened over the last few days and I've gotten a few bits and pieces, but it's not enough. I want to know who my mom was, what she was like. Do I look more like her or does Yukio? Was she reckless and loud-mouthed like me or calm and calculating like Yukio? Why did she willingly have children with Satan of all things? I know next to nothing about her and part of me is jealous that Yukio now has that intimate knowledge of our mother.

"Sorry kid, this is a messy situation." Shura takes a few steps towards us and crosses her arms. "People got hurt, some even died. There's a lot of damage not only to this school but the city. Our little organization isn't exactly public knowledge and people are wanting answers. We have people working on that but in the mean time we still need to put the pieces together on what happened."

Yukio looks back at me. I can tell he doesn't like it but agrees with Shura. He ruffles my hair a little more before standing up to go with her.

"Get some sleep Rin, I'm sure I'll be back when you get up."

"I'm not worried or anything. Go get this crap over with, Chicken." He gives me a glare at the use of Shura's nickname for him but before he can respond he's physically dragged out the door by her, the two lackeys right behind them.

* * *

My dreamless sleep that night is broken by the rough jostling of my shoulder. I'm so sick of being woken up all the time for these stupid vitals checks. Nothing has changed over the last few days and they never get anything more from waking me versus sleeping. What's the point other than me never getting a decent night's sleep? I roll my shoulder out from under their hand in an attempt to get them to leave me alone and go back to sleep.

"Damnit Okumura! Wake up already!"

That is not an annoying nurse.

I pry my eyes open as best I can while still being half asleep. The room is dark with only the orange glow of the street lights dimly illuminating the room since the curtains have been pulled open. I can't make out the time on the clock across the room but it has to be the early morning hours with how dark it is. I look around and see that Yukio is sitting up in his bed rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Shima is by his bedside with a hand on his shoulder, clearly the one who woke him.

"Suguro?" I can make out his hulking form and strip of blonde hair even with his back to the only light.

"Yeah it's me, now get your ass up already!" He hisses.

"Ouch!" I look over to see Yukio rubbing the side of his cheek and the duffle he packed days ago in his lap.

"Pack all the medical stuff, quick!" Shima whispers over his shoulder. He's digging through the pockets of various pants lumped in the corner. "Ugh, where is your wal-ah!" He holds up the cheap leather bifold in triumph, tossing the jeans back into the pile. "Which card is connected to the account your teaching salary goes into?"

"Erm…" Yukio's still sitting on the bed clutching the duffle, though now he seems wide awake and very confused. "The green one?"

"Got it!" He throws the wallet blindly behind him, hitting Yukio in the chest.

"Ow! Stop throwing things already!"

"There's only four nurses at the station, they should start rounds soon so probably only one will stay." Konekomaru slips into the room but keeps the door open a crack with his foot. I can't make out much in the dim light but I can see the outline of a giant backpack slung over his shoulders.

"Here Shima." He tosses something and it lands on the pile of clothes. Another backpack?

"Right, here's the card." Shima leans over and Konekomaru grabs it, stuffing the piece of plastic into his front pocket.

"Thanks." He turns back to look out the door.

"Um, guys what's going on?" If I wasn't nervous before I sure as hell am now.

"Later." Comes Suguro's rough voice. "Get up and get dressed." He leans down and wraps an arm around my shoulder from my left side.

Crud, this is going to hurt.

He pulls me up slowly and as gently as he can but my body still screams in agony. I feel the stitches pull and threaten to reopen, the already tender tissue begs me to cease, but I manage to keep from crying out. I get pulled into a sitting position with sweat running down my face and labored breathing on my part. Suguro keeps his arm around my shoulders to keep me from falling back.

"You ok?" He whispers.

I can't vocalize the words but I do manage to nod after a few moments.

He pats my shoulder and drops a shirt into my lap. "Good 'cause I'm not helping you change." A small laugh escapes between pants. Despite what he said I feel a tug on the back of my hospital gown and the material slides off my shoulders. I don't tease him about it though and carefully slip the thing off before grabbing the shirt.

"Shit, looks like they confiscated the key." I look over at Suguro and can make out Yukio's key ring in his hands.

"Well we figured they would." Shima says. He's shoving the pile of clothes he was digging through into the backpack. "Plan B it is. Koneko, can you text the girls to let them know?"

"Yeah no problem, I'll do that once I'm out."

Plan B? What the hell is going on?! Clearly everyone is in on whatever this is since Shima said "the girls", but what?

"Ok, three of the nurses just left to do rounds." Konekomaru looks over his shoulder at us. "They headed towards 301 and 302 so you guys only have about 40 minutes before they get here." He looks back out for a second before turning back to us. "It looks like the one left is just working on the computer, we should be able to slip out to the stairwell easily since he's got his back to this part of the hall."

"Okay. We're almost ready." Shima is trying to zip the backpack but it looks like the zipper is stuck. Yukio is buttoning up his shirt and a bulging duffle bag is on the bed. It looks like he took Shima's order to heart because hardly anything remains in the room. Hell, even the bulking thermometer and blood pressure thing were stuffed into the bag.

"Ready for WHAT?!" Yukio cries out just above a whisper as he gets the last button done. "Tell us what's going on already!" He throws his arms out in frustration.

"LATER!" Suguro hisses from across the room. I hear a loud crunch and pieces of glass skittering across the floor. "Shima!"

"Got it, here!" I see something black go flying across the room and Suguro catch it. He quickly puts it on the ground and I hear another loud crunch and even more pieces scattering.

"Did…did you just destroy my PHONE?!" Yukio looks shocked with his mouth hanging open at Suguro.

"Alright, I'm going to go." Shima and Suguro look over at Konekomaru. He takes a moment and looks at each of them for a second before taking a deep breath and slipping out the door, the click of the latch silent.

"Good luck Koneko…" Shima whispers. They stay quiet for a moment, just staring at the closed door. Shima's the first to move and closes the last zipper of the bag.

"Rin, can you walk?" I manage to pull the gray sweat pants up to my thighs. It's as far as I can go without getting up, plus my tail is still stuck underneath me. I try to ignore the discomfort of not wearing boxers.

"Not really, I've been helping him get to the bathroom since they took the catheter out after the MRI this morning." Yukio answers before I have a chance. Gee thanks bro…His tail is flicking angrily behind him and hits the shade of a lamp, causing it to jostle and threaten to fall over.

"Careful! And of course you still can't walk, that would make things easy." Suguro mutters the last part.

I don't have time to think about that because Suguro storms up to the left side of my bed and leans over. Fortunately I still have my hands on the sweat pants when he puts an arm under my knees and shoulders, scooping me up bridal style. I let out an undignified squeak but have some sense of mind to pull my pants the rest of the way up. My tail is bent awkwardly up my back so I fish it through the hole. He's holding me so my uninjured side is against his chest so I sling my arm around his neck, wincing only slightly in discomfort when I feel the stitches pull.

"Hold onto that thing, I do not want to trip on it!" I grab my tail without question, holding the fluffy bit against my chest.

Shima slings the backpack on and grabs the duffle only to put it on Yukio's shoulder a second later. He grabs my brother's wrist and pulls him to the door with him, standing just like Konekomaru had.

"Ok, ready!" Shima says over his shoulder after a minute.

"Now wait just a second!" Yukio yanks his wrist away. "Ready for what?! Tell us what's going on already!" Yukio huffs and crosses his arms, threatening to derail whatever it is they have planned.

"Fine!" Suguro looks at Shima who's shaking his head. I feel his shoulders heave and a heavy sigh escapes him. He looks me straight in the eye and I see an expression I've never seen before.

He looks absolutely terrified.

He hasn't even said what's going on and already I feel panic creeping up my spine. If this is scaring him it really must be bad. I can already feel my breathing pick up along with my pulse and my arm tightens its grip on his shoulders.

"The Grigori have ordered to have both of you executed."


	5. Destruction

A/N: Sorry for the short-ish chapter guys, real life was pretty crazy these last 2 weeks :/

* * *

The Grigori have ordered to have both of you executed.

I'm so jarred by that I don't even realize Suguro has started moving. One second we're in the hospital room and the next I'm flinching as he goes down the stairs. Only half the lights are on in the stairwell for the night, casting most of the area in shadows. Suguro's heavy footsteps sound like thunderclaps in the eerie silence. I know he's trying to go down the six flights as gently as he can but I still feel my side cry out with each step he takes.

Suguro makes it to the first landing between the third and second floor when we hear the clack of a door latch opening. He freezes for only a second before sliding silently into the nearest shadowy corner. High pitched laughter echoes up the stairs followed by footsteps.

Shit, they're coming up from beneath us.

I can tell when Suguro realizes this by his arms tightening around me. He slides a bit towards the edge of the stairs we just came down. I look up and see his glance flickering between the flight we just came down and the stairs to level two, debating what to do. We can go back up, the person below probably won't pay much mind to hearing another set of feat in the stairwell, but what then? We can't go back to the floor. Should we wait to see what the other person does?

The laughter turns into words and the steps get louder, closer now.

Shit, shit, shit. I tighten my grip around Suguro's shoulders preparing for the race up the stairs. He's tensing up too, ready to run out of their line of sight.

There's another clack, the squeak of hinges, then nothing.

We wait silently for a few moments but the footsteps and voice has stopped. I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. That was close, way too close. We need to get out of this hospital, there's no way we can get lucky for that much longer and they'll notice we're missing before too long.

"Probably a visitor on their cell phone, we haven't seen any of the staff in this stairwell the whole time we cased it." Suguro whispers as he starts going back down the stairs, a little faster this time and more jarring. Each bounce of a step down hurts and I know I'm holding my breath.

"You watched this stairwell? How long have you guys been planning this?" I manage to heave a breath on the landing for floor two before Suguro turns to go down the next flight.

"Since we brought your half dead ass to this place." He snaps. "Look, we figured shit was going to hit the fan one way or another so we made a few plans. We had ideas what might happen and none of them good so we prepared for what we could. When we got word of the order we moved, hopefully before anyone else did."

We make it to the first floor and I do not feel so good. Sweat is running down my face and I'm panting like I'm the one who just carried someone down all those flights of stairs. My stomach is churning, my head aches, all from a little rough transportation. Or maybe it's the thought that people are planning my execution.

Probably both.

"Open the door a bit and make sure the coast is clear, we need to go to the left."

I take a few deep breathes to steady myself and reach out to grab the handle with the hand holding my tail. I let it slip down to wrap around Suguro's thigh to keep it out of the way. There's a sharp pain in my arm when I tug on the door causing me to look down.

Woops…I forgot all about the needle in my arm. Blood is blooming underneath the skin and threatening to ooze out around the needle. Suguro notices, of course.

"Seriously Rin?!" He hisses.

Is that the second time he's called me by my first name? Where's that coming from, he's never done that.

"Ugh, we'll take it out later. We need to get out of here." He moves to where I'm practically smashed against the door but he manages to grab the handle and pull it open a crack with the hand under my shoulders. "Just look out and tell me if we can get out without anyone seeing."

I turn to peer out. The door opens up at the end of a hallway with a lobby to the right. There's a few people mulling about but mostly sleep deprived staff members. One is typing away at a reception desk while two others sort through paperwork, coffee mugs close to all of them.

"We're clear, just be quick."

Suguro whips the door open and we're out a side door at the other end in a second. The door leads to a parking lot sparsely filled with cars at the late hour. Suguro kneels down and I slide from his grip onto my own two feet. I lean a bit towards my injured side to keep from stretching the punctured muscles.

"Ok, probably should get that out." He grabs my arm with the needle still protruding from my skin. He pulls a few napkins from his pocket, probably from the cafeteria, and pushes them against my skin. He doesn't give me any warning, he just yanks the tape holding the tube to my bicep off and then the tape and needle. It stings like mad and I glare at him as he presses the napkins against the hole. The needle and tube get tossed under a bush.

"Your brother should probably look at this when we meet up, I don't know anything regarding medicine." He mutters when the napkin comes away clean. I snort at that, yeah clearly.

Suguro slings an arm around my shoulders and under my right arm to support me so I wrap my left around his shoulders. It takes a minute but we are able to hobble along.

It's quiet, peaceful even despite all that's going on. Crickets are chirping, there's a few screeches from bats, the rustling of a breeze through trees and bushes, I can even hear the faint buzzing from the lights in the lot as we pass them.

But one thing I do notice in the quiet is exactly that, the quiet.

This once bustling city is nearly silent. No matter what the hour one would hear vehicles of all kinds, sirens, people milling about, but now nothing. I strain my ears trying to hear something, anything in the quiet but there's nothing to be heard. I feel the cold, choking depression slide down my throat and settle like a heavy weight in my gut. I know Suguro tried to reassure me a few days ago but it's a dam that's been threatening to break this whole time. I know that if it weren't for me and Yukio destroying the gate things would be worse, but I can't help but think what if? What if I had fought Ernst? What if I had been strong enough on that cross that Yukio didn't have to intervene? What if I hadn't been such a coward to confront Satan and faced him sooner? Each of those thoughts chip away at my wall.

We're passing through one of the campus gates and entering the city, or at least what's left of the two. The road is mostly intact save for cracks but the buildings and once ornate gate are nothing but rubble around us. I can hear our shoes crunch over glass with each step and the skittering of small pieces we kick up. None of the lights are on which leaves us navigating the larger obstacles in almost total darkness since the moon is nearly obscured by the remaining buildings.

I have no idea where we're going but Suguro seems to know. We're both as silent as the city. No people yelling out for taxis, no car horns, no roars of the trains over their tracks, and no words between us. In the silence I'm not sure how much time goes by. It could have been only a few minutes or several hours as I strain my senses to hear anything.

We come to the beginning of a bridge when I see it. We're finally in a patch of unobscured moonlight and there's a pile of rubble shinning in the light. I don't know if it's the glimmering light bouncing off the glass, the pieces of rebar twisting out of the pile, or just the fact that I can finally really look at the destruction but it's unmistakable at the base of the debris. The pool of black liquid doesn't expand far past the clump of stone but it halos the pale appendage. The fingers are extended, like they had been reaching for help just beyond reach. Rodents have clearly had a few meals off it since chunks of flesh are missing, exposing muscle and bone in several areas.

I gasp when I realize what I'm looking at, pulling myself closer into Suguro. He stops walking and finds the limb almost immediately. He turns so I can't see it but it's too late, the damage is already done.

How many people? I know Shima said a death count, but those are the bodies found right? What about all the people missing? Are there more bodies buried underneath the rubble, decaying in their premature graves? Becoming meals for the scavengers?

What have I done?

Suguro doesn't say anything but I feel the hand holding onto my arm around my shoulders shift so he can rub his thumb along my wrist in a soothing gesture.

It's quite a bit later when we stop. We're deep into the city now, I'm sure the sky is starting to lighten but I haven't lifted my head to look. I've kept my gaze glued to his shirt, studying every bit of the fabric to avoid seeing any more destruction.

"Rin?" I can feel his baritone voice reverberate in his chest. "Rin I'm sorry but I've got to put you down for a minute, my arms are killing me."

Oh shit! I jolt at the realization that he has been practically carrying me for several hours now. I know I'm light for guy, but there's no way this has been easy. I nod against his chest, still not trusting my voice.

He stops at the top of a few steps to sit. He's careful going down but the moment my butt touches the ground he flops back with a groan. He spreads his arms out and closes his eyes.

It's silent, no noise in this part just like the rest. My gaze turns upwards and I can make out the pink hues of sunrise behind a cluster of buildings. I don't know how long we sit there, neither one of us says anything either.

Especially not about the fact I'm still practically plastered to Suguro's lap.

The pinks are just starting to turn orange when I hear rubble shifting. It's not much, just a few small stones tumbling down a pile and skittering across the broken pavement. I don't even look over towards the noise thinking it's just a rodent or some other pest. But then I hear more shifting and realize something; we haven't seen or heard any other living things the whole time we've been walking. I turn and look back the way we came and manage to catch sight of movement in my periphery.

"Suguro?" I keep looking, trying to find the source of the noise. I hear him give a grunt in acknowledgment to hearing me. "Suguro I think we need to move."

"Just five more minutes man, I'm exhausted."

I catch more movement and see a pile of rubble shifting at the end of the block. A large chunk from close to the top slips and tumbles down causing a small avalanche. That gets his attention and finally Suguro sits up to look. More debris shifts and eventually a small hand reaches out from the pile. I jolt, trying to get up and go after person trapped but Suguro is faster, sitting up and holding me in place. I open my mouth to protest only to get one of his filthy hands clamped over it.

"Quiet!"

What the hell?! The question is just muffled gibberish against his hand and I reach up to yank the hands off my mouth and shoulder, hell bent on saving whoever it is trapped in destruction I wrought.

The small hand pushes aside more chunks revealing shoulders and part of their body. The sun isn't quite up but there's enough light for me to see what's climbing out. Their skin gray but not from dust, part of a steel bar is protruding from the shoulder, a chunk of skin on their side is gone revealing two pale rib bones. More and more of it slowly rises from the rubble and I'm able to make out what was once a dress hanging off the body. The material is practically shredded, holding on by only one shoulder strap and exposing more skin than covering it. Two legs are pulled out, bones clearly shattered by how they're twisted and uncooperative as they climb out. It's a little girl. She can't be more than five years old, so small and still rounded with baby fat, dirty hair still held together with a ribbon.

"Shit, it's a ghoul!" Suguro pushes himself up and pulls me with him.

A ghoul. A little girl died in this and a demon has taken her body. A little girl who's hardly experienced life is dead, gone, her body a host for an opportunistic demon. Suguro tugs on me and practically drags me down the stairs, my legs as uncooperative as the little girl's.

"God damn it come on! She's a ghoul now, there's nothing left!"

My eyes stay glued on her as she crawls towards us. Her body tumbles down onto the street but she doesn't stop moving, she just reaches out towards us, pulling her mangled legs behind her.

"Fine, be useless!" He dumps me against a wall at the bottom of the stairs causing me to scramble to grab hold of something to stay up. He raises his hands in prayer, reciting the fatal verse for low level ghouls. I watch in horror as the body of the little girl contorts unnaturally with an ear splitting shriek. The scream gets louder and louder before the body explodes outward in a burst of black ash. The moats float and catch in the breeze as the last of her cries echo down the streets.

I don't even realize tears are running down my face until Suguro's looking at me, eyes wide.

"Rin?" He whispers.

The dam breaks. Everything I've been holding back rushes out of me in a torrent. All the feelings of guilt, self-loathing, horror, more I can't even put a name to crush me. Everything that's happened, every thought drowns me leaving me raw. I try to push it all back behind the broken walls but it's no use. A sob escapes me and I lean forward, burrowing my face into Suguro's shirt. I can feel him pull me closer and tuck me under his chin to try and keep me together but I still fall apart. To my credit it's not gross sobbing but I can feel the tears stream down my cheeks and onto his shirt, soaking the material in seconds. My shoulders heave as I take in a gulp of air which I only choke on. I reach out with shaking hands and grab onto him, trying to steady myself but it's no use.

What have I done?


	6. Rendezvous

...Sorry guys. Editing this monster was a total nightmare and took a lot of time. I'm one of those people who rarely gets sick and when I do I get REALLY sick. For example, never had the flu but a month after starting college I contracted H1N1 (aka Swine Flu). Spending 2 weeks in quarantine was fun! This time it was a simple head cold that turned into a major sinus infection. I was on a lot of pseudoephedrine when I wrote 3/4 of this chapter which was a huge mistake...btw that stuff is the main ingredient in meth! Works great for sinus problems!

Anyways, enough of my whining! I promised you guys a HUGE chapter to make up for the last one so here it is :D

* * *

 _"Jeeze Bon we were getting worried! What took you guys so long to get out here?"_

 _"I had to practically carry him the whole way here give me a break."_

I hear a heavy thud and the squeak of springs, probably Suguro flopping down into the arm chair. I can make out much quieter squeaks and groans, Konekomaru and Shima probably following suit with the couch facing it.

 _"We also came across a body in the rubble and a ghoul in a little girl's body." There's a collective gasp at that. "I know we expected to see that sort of stuff but Jesus…" I can picture Suguro leaning forward with his face in his hands. His voice is sort of muffled like he is. "Rin didn't take any of it well. I didn't expect him to brush it off, but he just fell apart after I exercised the ghoul."_

I know that normally I would jump in and be defensive, try to defend my pride, but I'm so numb I don't care. After the whole incident with the ghoul I just shut down. I know part of me was embarrassed to have broken down like that, in front of Suguro of all people, but a larger portion of me drowned those feelings in grief until everything just stopped. Which is fine, the numbness and disconnect is a lot easier to deal with then those soul crushing emotions.

After the tears stopped Suguro had asked if I was up for moving again. I was grateful he didn't ask if I was ok because frankly it would have been a stupid. Obviously I wasn't but I was up to getting away from there. After a quick nod of my head against his chest he slid his arm under my shoulders and started the slow pace back up.

I curl up tighter against the wall, ear still pressed against the plaster to listen in on their conversation.

 _"Sounds like what I went through."_ I perk up a bit at Shima's voice and look over at Yukio sorting through the backpacks and duffle on the bottom bunk of the bed. I assume they're the same ones from the hospital plus one more and more stuff since both bags are straining the zippers. Yukio pulls a toothbrush out and lays it next to one pulled from the other bag.

It's late afternoon now, the sun is starting to set outside our west-facing window. I don't know how everyone organized this specific apartment as the rendezvous point but the guys were waiting for us. I didn't ask anyways. It's nothing glamorous, just a basic three bedroom apartment that's faced minimal damage. Someone has clearly tried to cleanup though since all the glass from the broken windows are gone. Someone has also gotten rid of the pictures. I can see the outline of where they were on the walls and in the mix of dust and ash on solid surfaces. Probably an attempt to make it not feel like we broke into someone's home.

When we got here I didn't even acknowledge Konekomaru and Shima but it's not like Suguro really gave me a chance. He simply asked where Yukio was after opening the door and dumped me in this kid's bedroom. He told me to get some sleep, that we weren't done yet. I just slid to the floor after the door closed, body pressed against the wall shared with the living area. I didn't say anything to my brother and neither did he, he just continued to sort through our things and I started examining our temporary home from my place on the floor.

 _"We didn't have trouble getting the stuff from the dorms or even getting out into the city but the further in we got he just kind of…I don't really know how to describe it to be honest."_ Shima continues after a long pause. _"Remember back when we were in the hospital with Koneko for his arm after finding out about Rin? He was so cold and distant, especially when he explained everything. It wasn't until Sheimi accused him of not caring that he snapped and showed any emotion."_

I hear hums of agreement followed by another sigh and more springs squeaking.

 _"I think that's how Teach deals with stuff, he just sort of shuts down. The further we walked the more distant he got. We weren't really making conversation, but I could feel him pull away. His expression got stiffer, he stopped looking around, he just sort of followed me."_

 _"Makes sense."_ That's Konekomaru's voices that interjects. _"Rin hasn't ever hidden what he's thinking or feeling. The 'heart on your sleeves' type. They're probably just now really processing what all has happened. I mean, they really haven't had time to and it's not like they've been out and seen what it's like. Between dealing with nearly dying and suddenly being part demon they've had a lot to think about."_

 _"True, I can't imagine what's going through their minds. They may not really be able to for a while…"_

 _"Oh great so now we have to deal with PTSD shit from those two?!" Suguro groans loudly. "I so don't know how to deal with that kind of crap."_

 _"Well PTSD might be a bit of a stretch but at least it sounds like Rin is handling things better than his brother. Bottling things up isn't healthy."_

 _"I agree, we probably should keep a close eye on Teacher to be safe."_

Silence follows for a while before Suguro speaks up again.

 _"So what's the situation like regarding food? I'm freaking starving after everything today."_

 _"Well it looks like-"_

"Rin?"

I jump, nearly smacking my head against the wall and causing Yukio to yank his hand back from my shoulder.

"I need to check your side." He holds up fresh gauze in his other hand. Oh yeah, I'm still injured…

* * *

"Your body is finally starting to heal."

I'm sitting where Yukio was only moments ago with a grip on a rung supporting the top bunk to keep my arm out of the way. My shirt is sitting in my lap along with my tail because it kept flicking and annoying my brother. It's starting to get dark and I wonder how he can see considering he still has to wear his glasses.

"The reaction with the holy water is disappearing." He runs a finger over what must have been a line. "The skin is still raised and discolored though, so you'll probably have really bad scarring."

"I think you mean bad ass scarring." I mutter to try and lighten the mood. It works, Yukio lets out a soft chuckle.

"Yes I suppose." He sighs and leans back a bit. "Anyways, do you feel any numbness?" He runs his finger over that spot again.

"No, why?"

"Good, that means you didn't experience any nerve damage on top of all this." He sits back against a supporting post with a sigh prompting me to turn and look at him. At first glance he looks fine, every bit the cool and collected exorcist/teacher everyone seems to know him as. I can tell he's withdrawing into his own head though. His tail is now curled up around the post, his shoulders are sagging as if being crushed by a weight, and his brows are furrowed. I remember what Shima had said not too long ago and speak up.

"What's wrong?" I know he won't say what exactly is on his mind but at least I can pull him out for just a moment. Getting Yukio to open up and say what's wrong has always been a challenge, one I've since pretty much given up on. If something is bothering him he usually offers some sort of decoyed conversation topic. It's nothing obvious, anyone who doesn't know him wouldn't see it as a distraction for what's really on his mind but I do. I always go along with it though because it works better than harping on him and saying I know he's lying. Plus it gets him onto that topic too, a temporary fix to what's really going on.

"It's nothing." I somehow manage to keep myself from rolling my eyes at the expected response. "I just don't like that we don't have a real doctor to look at you."

Ok wasn't expecting that. "What do you mean? Aren't you one?"

"No, a Doctoral Meister isn't the same as a Medical Doctor." He shifts his gaze to the duffle next to him on the bed. "I have training in some areas of medicine but mostly in field first-aid. Doctoral exorcists are trained primarily in how to treat injuries from demons and a bit on how to fight using alternative weapons like various plants. The field first-aid is really just treatment for basic injuries and how to keep someone from dying before MD's arrive."

Oh. I feel kind of dumb for just assuming now.

"Anyways, it's a minimum of 8 years in post-secondary school and 4-7 years of residency to become a doctor." I catch a look of longing and disappointment before he looks back at the wound near my navel. I suddenly remember something from years ago, back when we were little kids. I had asked Yukio what he wanted to be when he grew up. He had looked down, embarrassed and unsure before stuttering out he wanted to be a doctor. I remember being proud of him, saying he'll be a great one someday, but that was all before he started training huh? I never put those things together. My brother probably still has dreams of being a normal human doctor, of going through medical school, wearing a white coat in some fancy hospital, of healing the sick and injured. What does he think now? This isn't the doctor he wanted to be, is it? Will he ever be?

"It looks like you have some fresh bruising from moving around today but nothing I'm concerned about." His statement brings me back from my musings. I look down as well and see the mix of blues and purples around my stitches, a sharp contrast to the now yellow and green of my old bruises. The silver lines have definitely started to recede but I can see what Yukio means. I trace the path of one line at the stitches all the way to just above the waistband of my sweat pants on my left side. The silver color stops about an inch away but the skin is still slightly raised and pink, exactly like a scar.

Cool!

There's a soft knock on the door before it cracks open enough to reveal Shima's face.

"Hey guys, sorry to bother you, but we were wondering if you might be up to poking around the kitchen Okumura. We know there's no electricity, but maybe you can work your magic with food and we can have something other than cold mush from a can?"

"Sure, no problem man." I tug my shirt back on and get up to follow him to the kitchen. I realize Yukio isn't following me when I get to the door. "Aren't you coming?" I ask over my shoulder.

"Yeah, I'll be there in just a second." Yukio gives a weak smile and waves me off.

Fucking Yukio…no sense in pushing it though. I heave an annoyed sigh and follow Shima out to the kitchen.

* * *

30 minutes later I'm mixing a curry dish on the stove top. It really isn't magic despite what they think. I mean really, you'd think I'd performed a miracle lighting the stove! A gas stove! Seriously, not that big of a deal. I'd learned about this years ago when a bad snowstorm had knocked out the power for nearly four days. Sure the clock and ignition don't work but a twist of the knob, a bit of my flames, and ta-da! We have a working stove top.

I found a few cans of coconut milk and some unopened red curry paste in the cupboards so that made things easy. What I hadn't expected was the horrible smell when I opened the fridge to find some fresh veggies. I knew there would be rotting food after so many days without electricity but dear god! No sooner had I cracked it open did I slam it shut. Soured milk and yogurt, rotting meat, decaying produce, the smell made me feel sick immediately. I gave up hope of salvaging anything in there but opened the freezer, hoping some things would still be cold enough. As luck would have it there was a bag of chicken breasts that survived. Chicken and canned veggie curry it is.

I'm checking on the rice when the front door opens. Izumo and Sheimi with Kuro on her shoulder walk in wearing the same huge backpacks we have looking exhausted. I'm a bit shocked to see them, but mostly because I haven't even thought about them all day. I instantly feel guilty.

"You're here!" Shima jumps up off the couch and pulls the girls into a hug. Izumo makes a face but accepts the contact, Sheimi gives a soft laugh, and Kuro jumps off immediately. The demon cat runs up to me and rubs my leg happily.

"Man I hate not having our cell phones to keep in touch, makes me nervous." Shima pulls back to look at them with a hand on each of their shoulders. Izumo shrugs it off along with her backpack.

"I don't like it either but everything went fine for our part." Sheimi looks over at me and smiles. "Is everyone here? Everyone ok?"

"Yeah we're all good." Suguro grumbles. He'd fallen asleep in the arm chair but now he's groggily sitting up. "All went according to plan?"

"I guess, it was a long time before there was any activity in the hospital. We sat outside for hours before people started showing up to look for you guys." Izumo groans.

Sheimi nods in agreement. "Kuro led a group into the forest but it was well after sunrise so we couldn't rely on the low level demons to intervene. We made a show of fighting them but Nee had to give us some cover to get away after. What about you guys?"

"Fine, fine. Koneko bought the train tickets and boarded no problem. Nobody bothers the people getting off, just on so he slipped out a few cars down and got here first." Suguro stretches his arms over his head, groaning when a shoulder pops. He gets up and walks over to me to check on the food status, ending the conversation.

Only a few minutes later and everyone is seated around the coffee table. The girls have claimed the couch, Suguro seems to have taken permanent residence in the armchair, and everyone else has brought in the dining room chairs so we can spend the meal together. I opt to sit on the floor next to the armchair with Kuro though. The demon cat hasn't left my side and I honestly feel better having him next to me.

Everyone complements my cooking skills before their first bites. I offer a weak smile in thanks before looking back down at my plate. The food smells good and I know it tastes good from all the sampling I did, but looking at the meal now, I can't even bring myself to take a bite.

Suguro and Izumo get up for seconds after only a few minutes, earning a few ribbings on their appetite. After piling another heaping portion they push the others to get more as well since we can't save any leftovers so Sheimi and Shima get up as well with mostly empty dishes. My plate is still full but thoroughly mixed from pushing everything around. Kuro finishes his plate and I put mine in front of him without a second though. The demon cat gives a happy chirrup before diving into his second helping. Suguro sees this and nudges my shoulder with his knee.

"You need to eat man." He says softly.

"I'm not hungry." I mumble back. I pull my knees up to my chest and watch the flickering flames of the candles on the coffee table. Sheimi, Konekomaru, and Izumo managed to find quite a few though a couple were obviously meant to be for decoration only. While they'd been doing that Shima and Suguro had covered the windows with whatever they could find. Curtains were shut, blinds lowered, and any not covered or still let in light got sheets pinned up. Apparently there's a lot of patrols. Yukio mentioned them the other night and Konekomaru found out that they mostly go out after sunset when everything is more active. The last thing we need is someone noticing candle light in what's supposed to be an abandoned city. It isn't much, but with how dark everything is it'll be obvious from blocks away.

"Your body is just now starting to heal and we don't know when we'll get a decent meal again."

"I said I'm not hungry." I snap back. I feel a little bad immediately after I say it since Suguro is right and I know should eat. Although I hadn't intended to, he doesn't give me a chance to apologize, he just shoves his half eaten second helping into my hands.

"Eat it before I shove it down your throat." He growls. He crosses his arms and flops back into the arm chair. I glare at him, not at all pleased with his treatment but I violently stab a piece of potato for a bite anyways. Everyone is relatively quiet, conversations have died out though there weren't many to begin with.

"Why are you guys doing this?" The question is quiet, hardly above a whisper, but it might as well have been screamed for how everyone reacts. Yukio hasn't said a single word to anyone all day. He would nod or shake his head but that was about it. Everyone had jolted when they heard him speak and snapped their gaze to him. He isn't looking back at them though, just at his plate. I look down and notice he's only taken a few bites as well.

"What do you mean Yuki?" Sheimi asks softly. She's sitting closest to him and I can tell she wants to reach out to him, probably for some comforting gesture, but something keeps her hand on the arm of the couch.

"Why are you guys doing this?!" He repeats the question but this time with venom. His grip on the plate is dangerous, threatening to break the porcelain. He slowly looks up but not at anyone, his gaze is far away. "You've thrown your lives away! You've fled the school so your education is gone! No longer will you be allowed to continue your training to become an exorcist! You've aided and abetted the escape of demons from The Vatican, so now you're facing criminal charges that will be a minimum punishment of jail time if they don't decide to execute you too! You've destroyed any future you may have for the sake of demons! So I ask again, why are you doing this?!"

Everyone is silent, processing my brother's outburst. Rarely does he lose his cool and when he does it's a force to be reckoned with. They've only seen it once or twice before, but seem to know just how serious the situation is.

As usual his logic is sound, his feelings accurate. I understand what he means and look at my friends. He's absolutely right, why are they giving up literally everything for us? This isn't some small thing that will blow over and all will go back to normal in the end. My friends are looking at criminal punishment if they're caught and no future in becoming exorcists if they aren't. There's no way they'll be able to go back to school, their training is over, done. Now what? What do they expect to do with their lives? We can't run forever…

Yukio tosses his plate onto the coffee table when no answers seem forthcoming. It isn't a long throw but it still clatters noisily, spilling some rice and sauce onto the wooden surface. He jumps up and turns on his heel to storm off towards the bedrooms, furry still clear. His tail is puffed and lashing to and fro, his shoulders are hunched, and his footsteps heavy, echoing through the apartment. I jump up to chase after him. I have no idea what to say or do, but he's my brother and I have to do something. I don't even get one step away when I feel pressure on my tail. I look down and see Suguro grasping it, just a few inches from the base of its junction with my spine. He gives a quick shake of his head, telling me not to go after him. I'm so confused. I keep looking at Suguro, even after I hear the door slam shut.

"Give him time." Konekomaru's voice is soft, placating like he's worried I'm going to snap too. "I know you want to help, but let's give him some space for now."

"Hey, Moriyama?" Suguro looks over at her, grip still firm on my tail. Her gaze shifts from the hallway to him. "You've known him the longest right?"

"Oh, yeah I suppose. It's only a few years though, when he first became an exorcist."

"Still, it's something." Shima looks from her to Suguro, a fork still in his mouth. "Thinking she should go with him when we split up again?"

"Yeah. Maybe he'll open up more to her. She's more of a friend to him too, we're still his students in his eyes." Konekomaru adds.

"Uh, hello! What about me! I'm his brother for god's sake!" I twist around to face them which causes my tail to be pulled through Suguro's hands. I try to ignore the sensation but I feel goosebumps erupt over my skin and my fur stand on end. I really hope Suguro doesn't notice or if he does he thinks it's like Yukio's reaction to being pissed off.

"Yeah, we're well aware of that fact Okumura." And we're back to that, so much for being on a first name basis. I start to roll my eyes when Suguro gives a slight tug on my tail. It was probably in jest, like a shove of the shoulder, but a traitorous moan crawls up my throat before I even realize what's happening. The sensation is akin to getting your hair pulled in the heat of the moment; sharp, a little painful, but oh so sweet as you're pulled into a toe curling kiss. My eyes had closed to revel in the sensation but they snap open when Suguro drops my tail like it had burned him. I can feel heat burn up the back of my neck as I realize what had just happened. I slowly look down at him, praying he didn't hear that.

He's gaping at me. Eyes wide, mouth open, cheeks pink, hand still out where he had been holding my tail. Fuck he heard that.

"Uh…so anyway." Shima is looking back and forth between us looking really confused. Thank god, maybe no one else noticed.

"Yeah, anyways." Suguro sits back in the chair and crosses his arms. He keeps his eyes on me the whole time. "We think he needs space and time to adjust."

"But I understand exactly what he's going through! This happened to me a year ago AND I watched our dad die!"

"Yes, but he probably won't open up completely."

Konekomaru nods in agreement with Izumo. "Exactly. Look, you probably understand better than anyone what's going through his head, but think of it like this: what if one of the things he's upset about being a demon?"

"…ok and?" I really don't understand where he's going with this. I wasn't exactly pleased about being a demon either.

Izumo lets out a frustrated groan, like this is a really obvious concept and she doesn't understand why I don't get it. I've heard that groan way too many times in class. "He probably feels guilty if he does. I mean, now he's like you in regards to demonic attributes. To be unhappy with himself he probably thinks extends to you." She flops back against the couch with a glare, daring me to still not get it.

"…oh…" I guess that does make sense. "And you guys don't think Yukio handles things well to begin with." The guys jolt in surprise, eyes wide. "I heard your conversation through the wall earlier. Demonic hearing." I quickly add "I don't think Yukio heard though." When they look at each other slightly paniced.

"Well we don't think he handles all challenges badly, surly he faced a lot while training and becoming an exorcist so young. We just think that this is something he doesn't know how to handle. He's not who he thought he was, he's not even human anymore for one. On top of that he played a huge roll in what happened and a lot of people died. He has to be feeling a lot of guilt at the very least."

"He's also not like you." Suguro picks up after Konekomaru. "You just roll with things. You forgive easily, too easily if you ask me…" He mumbles that last part but I still hear it. "You deal with things as they happen, and you let things go that you can't control. Teach doesn't do that."

He's right, they're all right. As much as I want to help and comfort him their logic is sound. I look back at the hallway one last time before heaving a sigh and looking back at them.

"Ok. You guys mentioned splitting up again, what exactly is the game plan in all of this?"

There seems to be a collective sigh of relief and everyone looks pleased to be moving on to a different topic. Shima speaks up immediately, explaining how they started planning all this while I was still back in surgery days ago. I listen, I really do, but the whole time part of my mind is mulling over my brother and how concerned I am about him.

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I am so anxious to split everyone up again because OMG is writing dialogue between this many characters hard...Thanks so much for all your love and support guys! Y'all are the best :D


	7. Waiting Game

Author's Note: Sorry guys...Things will be back to normal, I promise. I've got the next 4 chapters done and I'll post them every Tuesday :) Happy Holidays everyone!

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I wake up to near silence the following morning. There's no birdsong, no blaring car horns, no sounds of people as they start their day, nothing. A light breeze blows through the broken window causing the blinds to clack lightly against the wall and disturb the quiet but that's it. Honestly I prefer the hospital noise over this unnerving silence. Beeping of machines, the hiss of the blood pressure cuff, annoying nurses chatting, I'd take all of that over this and I never thought I'd think that.

I look towards the blinds to try and figure out what time it is. None of the clocks work and I don't have a watch. I can't tell how late in the morning it is with them closed but clearly the sun has been up for at least a little while with how bright the light is against them. I sit up, pulling the blankets with me to keep out the frigid morning air. Kuro lifts his head to give me a sleepy glare for disturbing him.

"What? It's cold!"

The demon cat rolls his eyes from his spot at the foot of the bed. He gets up, pads over to my pillow, and flops back down, burrowing into the warmth. He give a lazy flick of his two tails in my direction dismissing me. I give him a quick scratch between his horns before moving to climb down from the top bunk.

I haven't slept in one of these since Yukio and I were four. Dad had gotten us one when we out grew the toddler bed we shared and we immediately loved that old bunk bed. We converted the bottom part into a fort and slept on the top one together though, kinda defeated the purpose of it. Dad had tried to get us to sleep in the separate beds but gave up after a week because Yukio would climb up to the top one after he left, we weren't ready for that yet. During the day we would pull the covers down and spend hours on the bottom part. The beds were perpendicular so I claimed the bed part with my toys. I'd hung a net to keep them all together and put posters on the wall. Yukio had shoved his little bookshelf into the floor part and piled extra pillows to make a reading nook. We would spend hours in there together. We didn't necessarily talk or play together the whole time, but it was nice to be close while we did our own thing. It stayed that way until we were six and couldn't fit in the top part together anymore. We took apart the fort and Yukio began sleeping on the bottom bed. Another two years later and we got separate rooms. To be honest, I miss that bunk bed and all the memories with it.

Ok maybe not so much now, my back is killing me just going down the small ladder. The small mattress clearly wasn't made to support my weight because I can feel where each of the bars pushed into my back during the night. I stretch when my feet hit the ground, groaning with relief when my joints let out a series of cracks.

The bottom bunk is empty, covers pulled neatly into place and pillows fluffed. Of course Yukio made the bed, even when we break into a home and sleep in a stranger's bed, Yukio makes the bed. I roll my eyes at the gesture but I still smile to myself. At least some things about my brother haven't changed. I haven't had a chance to talk to him since he looked at my side yesterday. When I came back to the room a few hours later after his outburst he was already asleep, or at least pretending to be. I heave a sigh, maybe/hopefully we can talk later.

I head out to the living room, covers still wrapped around my shoulders. I realize about half way there that my side isn't hurting that much, just a dull ache now that I'm moving. I hadn't even thought about it this morning when I woke up. I don't bother lifting my shirt to look though, the apartment is freezing with all the windows open. Fall seems to be approaching fast now and I really hope we're not stuck dealing with winter like this. I shuffle into the living room trying to warm my numb toes on the carpet. The light is minimal with everything the guys put up last night so I reach over to the nearest window and yank on the blinds.

"Shit Okumura was that really necessary?!"

I jump and realize Suguro had slept on the couch. He yanks his pillow over his head to block out the light I had just blinded him with.

"You're still sleeping? Also, why are you on the couch?"

He groans and readjusts. He's way too tall for it and his socked feet are hanging over the edge even with his knees pulled up. A blue blanket I remember from the hall closet is mostly on the floor exposing the white undershirt and purple sweat pants he'd slept in. He blindly grabs at the blanket to try and cover himself back up.

"Because, genius, there's only 2 other bedrooms. The girls got the master so Shima and Koneko took the full sized bed in the other room. I'm too big to share a full with someone so here I am on the couch." His grumpy voice is muffled by the pillow.

Well that makes sense, guess I didn't think that one through. "Well…aren't you usually up at a ridiculously early time every morning?"

Suguro groans even louder before lifting his head out from under the pillow. He squints at the light from under his wild bed head. The longer blonde part of his hair nearly covers his eyes and it's all a mess from old hair gel he slept in. "I get up at 5:30 every morning to go run. But I can't exactly go do that in these circumstances so I forced myself to go back to sleep."

"…That sounds awful."

He chucks his pillow at me and flops face first back down into the couch. "Go bother someone else, like Sheimi, she got up for water maybe an hour ago."

Yeesh what a grouch. I shuffle into the kitchen to try and get ideas for breakfast. Since I'm not opening the fridge again (though I'm sure nothing is salvageable in there anyways), I'm really limited on options. There's a few bananas but they're a little over ripened, three oranges, a grapefruit, and some apples in the designated fruit basket. Ok fruit salad can be one thing. I dig through the cupboard trying to come up with other things, letting my warm blankets fall to the floor so I can use both hands. Bran cereal, gross and we don't have milk anyways. Pancake mix, no eggs or milk again. One, two packets of instant miso soup. Not much but it's something so I put the packets on the counter next to the fruit.

After about five minutes of digging I heave a sigh. "Ok spit it out." I whip around to face Suguro. His eyes are wide and there's a slight blush on his cheeks from what I can see, most of his face is still hidden behind the couch cushion. I've felt him staring at me the whole time I've been in here. I have an idea what's going on and I don't want to talk about it, but feeling him watching me is really creeping me out.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He turns away from me and I can see his ears are red too.

Stubborn, prideful, jerk. "Is it the tail thing from last night?"

I can see him tense up and his blush darken. Of course it is. Now I REALLY don't want to talk about it.

"Great, the one time you're not oblivious." He mutters, still looking away from me.

"HEY!"

"Yes it's about your stupid tail!" He whips around to glare at me again, blush still staining his cheeks. "What's the deal with it? You freaking MOANED yesterday!"

I cross my arms and glare at the bowl of fruit like the brown bananas are the ones who betrayed me. I can feel my own blush darkening too. Best to just to get this over with I guess.

"I told everyone else at the hospital some stuff but you and Shima weren't there. I'm also assuming Yukio and I are the same in this just because everything so far has been, I haven't exactly asked him and don't plan on it." I take a deep breath before diving into an explanation similar to my last one. "Our tails work great for counter balances with fighting, especially because we can run faster, and jump a lot higher and farther. It also is kinda cat-like with reflecting how we feel instead of being like a monkey's and working as another arm. You probably noticed how Yukio's was puffed up and whipping around last night with his outburst." I pause and hear Suguro make a noise of understanding.

I don't want to explain this part but I know he won't let the subject drop now, not after I started it. I hadn't even found about this until a few months after my demon blood awakened. It's not something you think about trying, it was a total accident. I had been fooling around one night Yukio was away on a mission and my tail had wrapped around my wrist at some point. I hadn't paid attention to it, it just happened like it had a mind of its own. I had yanked my arm away to readjust and was nearly blinded by the bolt of pleasure that shot through me. I had moaned obscenely loudly, curled my toes, and arched my back into the feeling, reveling in the sensation that shot through my entire back. I didn't even pause to process what had happened after I came down from it, I just moved onto my side and started pulling some more. It wasn't hard, just keeping my tail wrapped around my wrist would trigger the feeling every time I moved and god was it amazing. I experimented that whole night, just hours and hours of trying new things. I found that pulling on it with other sensations made things feel even more intense, especially when I slipped a few fingers inside me and added to the pressure at the base of my spine. I also discovered that rubbing the point where my spine and tail connect was pleasurable. Not nearly as much as the pulling, but really relaxing and blissful. I had done that with one hand, my thumb pushing slow circles into the joint as I stroked myself slowly with my other hands, letting everything build slowly like a wave instead of rushing over me like a storm with the other sensations. I lost track of how many times I came that night, just starting up again once I came down from that blissed out high. I know I showed up to class dehydrated and exhausted after only a few hours of sleep but it was so worth it.

I heave a defeated sigh and just spit out the rushed sentences. "The best way to describe it is like getting your hair pulled. Too much and it hurts but with the right amount of pressure or rubbing the base…" I trail off not wanting to actually say it, just hoping Suguro fills in the blanks. I know that it's basically a kink and I really hate admitting this. I take a few panting breaths, my heart racing in my chest and blood roaring in my ears. I know I'm bright red from embarrassment from that confession and I dread what his reaction is.

It's silent. It feels like it drags on forever but I know it's only been a few seconds and I can't take it anymore so look at him, deciding the silence is worse than anything else. He's staring unabashedly at the fluffy end of my tail. It's curled up and in on itself behind me so he can't see much from his angle but I have a feeling that if I had my back to him he'd be staring at the point where it connects under my sweat pants. He's still blushing but now he just looks…curious. Head tilted to the side, one eyebrow arched, nose scrunched as he just keeps staring at my tail. I don't even think, I just wrap the appendage around my leg, the tufted end brushing the top of my foot.

"Touch my tail and I'll break your hand."

He snaps his gaze up and his curious look morphs into a glare. "I ain't messing with your tail, freak! What gets you off in the bedroom is your business!"

"You're the one who asked!" I yell back, feeling my fur puff up. I instantly picture an angry cat and curse Izumo for putting that image into my head back at the hospital.

He sits up on the couch, hands braced on the arm. "Yeah, because of what happened yesterday! I wasn't about to let that go, it's weird!"

"Not my fault, I can't control it!"

"Great, less than 24 hours stuck together and you guys are already fighting." Speak of the devil…Izumo walks through the living room and into the kitchen. She's still in her pajamas, a pair of plain blue pants and a white tank top with fuzzy socks. She walks up to the sink and yanks open the cabinet right next to me, nearly bashing the side of my head.

"Hey watch it!" I cry out as I duck away.

Izumo just fills her glass from the sink tap, ignoring me until she's taken a sip. "Look, we're going to be stuck together for a while so it would be in EVERYONE'S best interest if you two didn't fight like little kids. Got it?" She shifts her glare between us with her threat heavy in the air. I really don't doubt that she'll kick our asses for fighting. She takes another sip before sauntering away towards the hall. "Moriyama is about to get into the shower, I'm next. Quick ones only since 7 of us are fighting over the hot water!"

I hear the door slam at the end of the hall and glare back at Suguro only to find him glaring back at me already. This is going to be a long day.

* * *

By the time everyone has finished showering it's early afternoon. The hot water tank is small and only allows us two showers before running out and taking another hour to heat back up which left a lot of tempers short. Especially since most showers ended with someone swearing as the water switched to frigid.

Yukio came back about a few hours after I got up, apparently he 'just wanted to think' and had escaped to the roof. He didn't say much more then that but no one really pushed him for more. He just nibbled on some of the fruit salad I had put aside for him and went back to our bedroom. He showered before me and now he's on the couch thumbing through some manga he found. Konekomaru and Izumo are working on a puzzle at the kitchen table, hardly any noise coming from their general direction except the occasional snick! of puzzle pieces clicking together. I honestly have no idea what the others are doing, I stopped paying attention a while ago.

I've been entertaining myself by using my tail to play with Kuro. He had been lounging in the sunlight until I got bored and started pestering him. It took a bit more taunting than expected but he finally caved and started playing. He manages to snag a claw in the fluffy part and I tug him a few inches along the floor. I really have no idea how people managed to not die of boredom before having things like TV and cell phones. I never was the type to spend hours messing with my phone or channel surfing but what I wouldn't give to play some dumb game on my phone right now instead of just lying here.

We're all waiting, however impatiently, for Shura. Last night everyone had explained how she had been the one to send us the warning to run, that the Grigori had made their decision on how to handle the fallout from everything with the portal. True Cross had been keeping her on a short leash and under observation, but apparently she had an informant feeding her information she couldn't get ahold of directly. Not surprising because there have been "private meetings" going non-stop since the incident with only a few select people attending at a time, Shura having only appeared twice. Once to give her statement on the events and the other with their lackeys to give ours.

I honestly wasn't surprised to learn Shura was the one helping us. She'd made it clear she didn't always agree with True Cross or The Vatican and went rogue from time to time when we first met. Supposedly, though, they often overlooked her actions since she was still on their side most of the time and one of their strongest for the Japan branch. She'd said she'd been on "probation" from time to time with escorts (explains the muscle during the interviews), but nothing more than that. She also said she never trusted tech which I originally thought was paranoid, but now I owe her an apology. Konekomaru said True Cross had been tracking our movements through the GPS on our phones for days. Hence Suguro smashing ours.

Shura is supposed to meet us here as soon as she can but she said not to wait more than 48 hours, to move to the next location and wait again. Nobody knows what to do next though, they'd been relying on her to make the plans for all this.

So we wait.

The air is a bit tense, but I think it's mostly because nobody knows what to do with the silence. All of us are so used to the city noise it's just unnerving to not have it in the background but at the same time none of us know how to fill it. Which leaves us with the occasional sound of a page turning, puzzle pieces clicking together, and an occasional noise from Kuro as we continue our game.

I flick my tail just out of Kuro's reach when the demon cat makes another swipe. His own tails are twitching madly in his excitement with the game. He shifts his weight back and forth between his hind legs, preparing to pounce. I'm about to lift my tail when suddenly he freezes. His ears shoot back and he whips his head around, eyes wide.

I don't even have a chance to ask him what's going on when I hear Sheimi's ear splitting scream from the bedroom.

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Thanks for reading!


	8. Herded

A/N: Sorry this is a shorter chapter but I kept my promise! The next chapter is done as well so I think I'll post it next Tuesday to allow editing time and get back into the grove of a regular update schedule. Thanks for reading!

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When I burst into the master bedroom I'm extremely confused. I had expected something to be there attacking Sheimi. Some opportunistic demon, maybe one of the patrols or someone else from True Cross, something! Instead the room is nearly empty with only Sheimi occupying the room. She's plastered against the wall next to the door staring wide eyed at the windows along the opposite side. She's a bit pale and shaking, so clearly she saw something. My eyes do another sweep of the room and everything looks fine. The bed dominates the room with too many pillows with an open textbook sitting in the middle. The dresser sits past the foot of the bed covered with jewelry and various pieces to hold them. The nightstands sit on each side of the beds with lamps, one with an empty glass. The rug under the bed is even undisturbed, everything looks perfectly fine.

I stand up from my offensive stance and look over at Sheimi again. She notices me and points towards the windows.

"S-s-snake!" She stutters out just above a whisper.

A snake? Why on earth would a snake be here? I look back towards the windows just as a soft breeze tugs at the curtains. They billow away just enough to reveal crimson smears along the ledge, a small drip threatening to fall from the sill. Farther down along the wall are a couple more smears. Ok, something definitely got in here but it's obviously pretty badly hurt. I move slowly on my toes along the perimeter of the room around the bed. It's not until I'm moving between the bed and dresser that I see the creature.

It's laying in a crumpled heap, like it just fell onto itself as soon as it got enough of its length through the window. In fact, part of its tail is still pushed up against the wall. The white naga has its eyes closed and it isn't moving. I continue examining the creature and see it's badly injured. There's a clear bullet wound through it near the middle and blood is still oozing out of it. Other areas are slightly sunken and discolored as bruises bloom under the scales. I'm not totally sure what happened to cause those injuries but I'd be willing to bet things like pipes and other blunt object were used. Cuts litter the creature's body as well. Everything from little scrapes where the scales are ruffed up with pinpricks of blood seeping out from under them to a several inch gashes with surrounding chunks of skin exposed like the keratin plates had been ripped off. Blood and filth covers its once pristine scales in a garish mixture. Where blood drops and splatters end, mud and ash begin.

I hear heavy and rushed footsteps followed by various gasps and other surprised noises.

"What is that things?!" I can hear Shima scooting back after the question, trying to distance himself from the snake.

"How did it even get in here? We're on the third floor and there isn't a fire escape in this room." Izumo kneels next to me to get a better look but is still a fair distance away.

"It's Shura's familiar…" I recognize the huge snake now from the incident with Neuhaus and his wife. Upon hearing its mistress's name the serpent slowly opens one eye.

 _He's hurt really bad…_ Kuro has managed to squeeze through everyone and is now creeping up slowly to the head of it. Once he's close enough he reaches out and places a paw on the snake's nose. It still doesn't move, doesn't even acknowledge the demon cat touching him.

"Will he be ok? What can we do?" The question is directed at Kuro but I'm look at the snake again. "Can I understand him if he talks like I can with you?"

Kuro shakes his head and looks at me. _He's a lower mid-level demon, anyone below midlevel isn't strong enough to talk to humans. Ms. Shura may be able to in some way though because he's her familiar._

I nod. "Makes sense. Can you talk to him? Ask what happened and how we can help?"

 _I'll try, but he's very weak._

"Yukio!" I whip around to look at everyone gathered behind me. Konekomaru is kneeling on the bed with Sheimi but she's slightly behind him, still rather pale. Shima is backed into the corner of the room also looking pale and nervous. Yukio though is right behind me. "You got all that right? Go get the medical bag!"

He jumps a bit at being the one getting a command but he turns to go get the supplies.

I slowly scoot forward a bit more and move my hand close to his nose. "We're going to help you ok? Just try to relax, you're safe now." The naga seems to understand me, or at least my tone, because I see his sides expand with a heavy sigh before his eye closes.

Yukio kneels next to me with the duffle a second later. He pauses for a moment but gives a sharp shake of his head before digging into the bag.

"So…care to explain what you guys said?" I look over at Shima who's come out of the corner a little bit. "We're human, we can't understand Kuro or that thing." He points over at the bleeding snake.

"Oh!" I had forgotten about that. "It's not much, the snake isn't a high enough level to talk with humans so Kuro may be able to get something."

Shima gives a nod and looks over at Konekomaru. His eyes widen a bit and he looks around. "Wait! Where's Bon!"

"I haven't seen him since he came out of the shower, that must have been hours ago." Konekomaru is sitting up more but he doesn't look too concerned. "Maybe he borrowed Teach's idea and went to the roof. He usually meditates, he's probably doing that."

"Just call me Yukio." His words are soft but I can still pick up the slightly defeated tone in his voice. "I'm not your teacher anymore and we're not at True Cross." His hands pause from pulling out wads of gauze. I see his shoulders have drooped a lot more, reflecting his tone. I can't see his face from this angle and I wish I could. "Just…stop calling me teacher. Yukio is fine."

I look back at Shima and Konekomaru. They both look a bit surprised, but I catch Sheimi's worried look. She understands. Being a teacher is part of his identity, he's been so proud of it.

We sit in silence for a while, just watching Yukio treat the injured demon snake. The naga hardly moves save for an occasional flinch when Yukio is working on a particularly gruesome spot. A few stiches here and there, pressure on the bullet hole to stop the bleeding, covering the sections where scales are missing, I know he had said he doesn't know how to treat demons but he seems to with how he's treating the naga. Yukio is running his fingers around a sunken area when Konekomaru finally voices what we all must be thinking.

"Ms. Shura got caught, didn't she?" No one responds but the serpent moves its head for the first time, turning it towards us. He slowly rises just a few inches but nods his head.

"She summoned and sent you to warn us, huh?" I ask. The demon again nods, but this time he sways a little, showing just how hurt and weak he is. "True Cross Exorcists did this to you?" Another nod. I almost don't want to ask the next question but we need to know. "Shura…did they hurt her too?" There's a pause but eventually the naga does one dip of its head. Sheimi lets out a choked sob.

I put my face in my hands. I had known it, expected it to be confirmed the moment I recognized the white demon snake but I still feel like I've taken a blow to my stomach. All the innocent people already decaying under the rubble and now Shura? She'd been trying to help us. I feel nausea bubble up and I think I might be sick. What did they do to her? What will they do to her? Surely they'll torture her for information. I try to block out the images of various methods they would use to find out where we ran to.

At that thought I jerk my head up. I know Shura won't give up the information easily, if it all, but we can't take that chance, we need to move.

"Guys." My tone is somber and I don't have to look back to know that I have everyone's attention. "We need to run, like as soon as possible."

"Where do we go?" Sheimi's voice is tiny.

"It doesn't matter, we just need to get out now." Izumo is already standing up. "We'll stick together for as long as we can. If we feel any pressure we'll split up again but we'll have another location to meet up planned by then. We still have several hours of light, if we run we should be able to get quite a few miles away before finding a place to camp." She reaches under the bed and pulls out her backpack.

She's right. Everyone starts to move to get their bags when we hear a commotion of clumsy, heavy steps and then the front door slamming open. Shima, being the only one standing, rushes to the doorway only to be nearly crushed by Suguro who skids to a stop in the hallway.

"Guys, we need to run! I was on the roof and I saw patrols crossing the bridge. It's way too early for them to be starting standard routes, something must-." Suguro notices that we're all crowded around the naga. "The hell is that and why-" He gets cut off a second time by Shima pushing him towards the other bedroom saying he'll explain as they pack.

All of us explode into motion after that, throwing the few things we had pulled out of our bags back in and yanking on proper shoes. It doesn't take long, we've got our stuff piled by the front door on under a minute. I'm about to throw my backpack on when I realize Kuro isn't here. I rush back into the master bedroom and see Kuro lying next to the serpent. He's completely covered in bandages, hardly any of his scales are visible now. The one over the bullet wound has a small spot of blood bleeding through but he otherwise seems to be ok, Yukio did a good job. I kneel down next to them and look at Kuro.

 _He wants to stay._ His yellow eyes shift to me. _I asked if he wanted to come with us, that you'll take good care of him and be nice. But he said he doesn't want to. He doesn't like being around humans that much._ The snake then opens his eyes and flicks his forked tongue. _He says thank you._ Kuro translates.

"Will he be ok?"

 _Yeah, he just needs rest. He'll probably end up hiding in the rubble somewhere._

I nod in understanding before gesturing for Kuro to come. I hate leaving Shura's familiar behind but I'm not about to force a 7 foot demon snake to come with us. He gives one last flick of his tongue in our direction before we slip out the door.

We rush out of the apartment and start making our way down the street, away from the bridge towards True Cross. We try to run, but there's so much debris in the street we keep slipping. Sheimi slips and nearly falls with a squeak but Izumo grabs her arm in time. She pauses to allow her to get her footing but nearly drops her.

"Why on earth are you wearing your school uniform?!"

We all pause and look at Sheimi. Sure enough the blonde is in the short school skirt, blouse, and tie. None of us had even realized it earlier in our rush to get out.

Sheimi blushes and toes a piece of brick. "It's the only thing I have that isn't a kimono, and I don't have any shoes other than getas."

"Oh for the love of…" Izumo slaps her hand over her eyes and groans audibly. "We'll loot a clothing store later." She grabs Sheimi's hand and we start running again.

We keep up a harsh pace for well over an hour before we're forced to slow down. The shadows are lengthening to a concerning point and we're double checking each patch before crossing them. Izumo's pulled out her magic circle papers, Shima has is staff, and Yukio pulled out one of his guns. We've been heading north for the most part but we've cut west every few blocks so we're not moving in a straight line. It's worked to have more sunlight but now the light is just brushing the tops of the buildings and most of the streets have been overtaken by the darkness. We emerge from one of our westerly jogs only to find the street completely encased.

I feel like we haven't gotten far at all, everything looks the same. Rubble, collapsed buildings, fire consumed parks and gardens, there's nothing to tell us where we are in the city anymore. This area looks like it was once an open marketplace but I'm only guessing because there are individual piles of ash that could have once been stands. The buildings to the west are still standing causing the premature dusk. We all stand there for a second, straining our senses for any danger.

Yukio's the one who hears the snarl first and he yanks Konekomaru away from the wall. The snap of teeth echoes through the open area and we all stare at the creature. It's a dog, or at least it was a dog. It reeks of burning hair and flesh but it's clear why. The remaining fur is charred black and brittle, pieces falling off with even the slightest movement but there isn't much left. A majority of the poor creature's body is mottled red and white tissue from fire having stripped the animal of its protective coat. Bone is even visible in the tail and back legs from the flames consuming all the way to the core. What's even more unnerving though is the empty sockets staring back at us. How it's able to see us is beyond my guess but not something I ponder for long, I'm just trying to keep myself from vomiting at the smell. It's mouth is foaming as it growls at us from the edges of the shadows.

"There's probably more ghouls in there, we should back track and go around." Suguro suggests before turning back.

None of us disagree, there's no telling how many of them are in there and it would take longer to exorcise them than go around the area.

We round the corner of the block we had taken cling to the easternmost side of the street that is still bathed in sunlight.

"How much longer should we run, man? It doesn't even feel like we've gone that far." Well I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels like that.

Suguro slows to a stop and we follow suit. Yukio and I are fine, but Konekomaru and Sheimi are practically wheezing as they hunch over to catch their breath. Izumo drops her bag with a pained expression and rubs her shoulders. I catch a glimpse of very irritated skin under her shirt from where the straps have been rubbing.

Should I transform and carry them? Kuro asks. He's looking at Sheimi and Konekomaru with his head tilted to the side. They're not nearly as strong as the others.

"No." Yukio says before I can answer with a yes, appreciating the offer greatly. "Your other form is too big, it'll be easy to spot. You also won't be able to fly and your footsteps are too heavy when you run."

Damn, he's right.

I slip my bag off too but keep hold of my sword as I look around at the surrounding buildings. Most of them are still standing but fires went through here. Still, most of the buildings looks stable. I finally find one that's an actual apartment complex with balconies. It's only five stories tall, but the building next to it is six and I can make the jump. It's not the tallest building but it should work.

"Hey guys, I'm going to go up there and check things out."

I don't even wait for responses before I squat down and launch myself onto the first balcony. My landing is crap. I overshoot the railing and crash shoulder first into the wall. I'm really out of it, clearly. I'm not hurt, but I'm still a little embarrassed that everyone saw that. Whatever. I climb onto the railing and jump up, grabbing hold of the next floor's and pulling myself up. I work my way up the building until I'm on the last one where I launch myself onto the roof but land in a crouch. Fortunately the area is still bathed in sunlight and I stand up.

The sun is just brushing the horizon, painting the sky beautiful shades of pink and orange. A few windswept clouds linger but otherwise the sky is completely empty, I can't even spot a single bird. I turn to the south and see the towering structure that is True Cross Academy. We can't be more than a few miles away from the southern bridge at the base of it and I feel my stomach drop. We really haven't made much progress. I heave a disappointed sigh but I keep on scouting the area, looking for any signs of patrols, vehicles, really anything moving in this disaster zone. Nothing is obvious but I look to the west and see some colors sticking out of all this gray and black. Is that the edge of the portal's damage? I jump up to the next building that's another story taller to get a better look. Sure enough, the horizon is lined with reds, oranges, and yellows, a forest in the process of shifting to fall. I never thought I would see woods and think salvation.

I turn to yell the news of my discovery to my friends when I hear something scream past my ear.

I drop down immediately, turning to where I think the threat came from. My heart is racing and I can feel my hair standing on end. There, to the west! It's hard to see with the sun in my eyes but I catch the glint of a shiny metal sniper rifle pointed at me from a building only two blocks away.

Fuck! Shit!

I launch myself off the building, out of their line of sight just as I hear another bullet whiz past me.

"RUN! FUCKING RUN!"

I land on my feet and into a crouch with my hands catching me to stop my momentum. I don't think, I just swing my backpack on and grab Konekomaru who's still panting.

"Yukio! Grab Sheimi!" I don't even look back, I just swing Konekomaru around so he's essentially draped over my backpack and I've got a grip on his arms keeping him up. I'm sure he's going to have really bad bruises from my grip on him, especially his left arm since I'm still holding onto my sword but I have no idea how else to hold him while he's still wearing his pack. I know Suguro is in crazy good shape so I just hope that Izumo and Shima are ok and able to keep up.

I take the lead going west, towards the woods I saw. I know they're still many miles away, but I don't know where else to go. Suguro is right behind me but Izumo and Shima aren't far behind with Kuro in the middle. Yukio is at the back but I suspect it's mostly him wanting to keep an eye on everyone more than being awkward with his newfound strength and stamina. Sheimi is in his arms bridal style, her arms around his neck and his under her legs and supporting her pack.

"Okumura, what happened? What did you see?" Konekomaru panicked voice asks.

"Snipers, on the roof. They got two shots in before I jumped."

"WHAT?!" Suguro cries out. "How the hell did they find us?!" I hear him stumble and swear. "Actually...How did they know we would be there? This city is huge, there's no way that was pure chance…" I can hear fear in his voice and I shudder. He's right...how did they know we would be there? We didn't even know we were going to be there!

Fuck fuck fuck!

The sun has set now, taking the last pieces of light from us and the safety that came with it. Fortunately the moon is rapidly rising, bright and full near the center of sky providing us with some illumination. Still, it's not enough. I can hear the tittering of coal tars in the narrow alleys, the clumsy footsteps of ghouls, I even catch a glimpse of a goblin digging through a dumpster that had rolled out into the street.

We manage to be lucky for only a few minutes before I turn to go down a northern street and come face to face with a naberius. The sickly brown colored creature looks like a haphazard combination of rodents but is much too large to be one. A long rat like tail,short round ears, but three pairs of stumpy legs. Stitches cover its entire body except for the face. There it looks like they have ripped open to reveal the bloody skin and sharp teeth of its muzzle. The thing is sitting up on its furthest back legs and in the remaining four its grip what is unmistakably a human leg and hip. Chunks of flesh are already missing and I begin to wonder if the blood on the creature's face is it's own.

I manage to skid to a stop a decent distance away, but it's not enough to avoid detection. The thing turns away from its meal towards us, a single glowing eye fixed on us. I don't wait for the creature's reaction, I just turn and head west down the same street we'd been going down before.

It goes on like that for the better part of an hour. We would change paths when a mid level or group of low levels would appear, foregoing direction in favor of distance. A colony of hobgoblins, a pair of ghouls, too dense of a cloud of coal tars, we would simply turn left or right to avoid them and once we had to turn around completely.

I realize too late that we're being herded somewhere.

When we reach an area that's nothing but a crater we're moving too fast to slow down. I end up falling forward and sliding down to the bottom. Fortunately Konekomaru doesn't get hurt by being on my back but I've busted my chin open, bit my lip, and my shirt is shredded. Suguro, being right behind me, is surprised by the sudden crater too and lands next to me using his hands to catch himself. He hisses in pain and I can see his palms are cut up pretty badly before he even sits up. Shima stumbles his way down, Izumo slides gracefully, Kuro makes his way down slowly, and Yukio jumps down with Sheimi easily.

"You guys ok?" Yukio is leaning over us, a worried look on his face.

He doesn't get a chance to respond when the area is suddenly lit up with a blinding light. We all cry out in pain and squeeze our eyes shut. I can feel my eyes watering as my night vision is painfully ripped away. Even behind my lids I can still see the light. I hear a series of clicks and my stomach drops. If it weren't for my brother being a dragoon I'm not sure I would have recognized the sound but unfortunately I do. It's the sound of a large number of weapons having their safety clicked off.

I struggle to open my eyes, though I really don't want to, I don't want to be right. But I am. Along the ridge of this crater are construction spot lights shining down on us, at least twenty True Cross Exorcists pointing their guns at us, and another dozen of unknown Meister classes littered around them. What stands out the most though, is the person standing in the middle of them because he's the last person I expected to see and he stands out with his white lab coat.

"Well it's about bloody damn time, I reckoned the lot of ya somehow got lost despite our guides!"

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Guess who's back! :D


	9. Causality

A/N: A little early this week because tomorrow is going to be crazy busy for me and I didn't want to make you guys wait till after 8 US CT. Enjoy!

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"Dr...Thompson?" Yukio's stunned voice is hardly above a whisper but being in the crater and everyone else too stunned to speak the sound is amplified.

"In the flesh." The doctor pulls a pack of cigarettes from a pocket in his white coat. He gives an almost lazy flick of of his wrist causing one to pop out. "Though honestly, ya can't be that surprised, right?" The last part is mumbled around the cancer stick.

Everyone is silent. No one even moves. I'm still sprawled out on my stomach and Konekomaru hasn't moved a muscle from my back, arms staying tight around my neck. I can feel the rapid expansion and contraction of his chest from his heavy breathing. Suguro hasn't even moved to tend to his wounded hands. He's still frozen on his knees with his palms facing upward. I can see streams of blood running down his wrist and saturating the cuffs of his hoodie out of my periphere. I can see Yukio still standing with Sheimi in his arms too. His expression is complete shock, eyes locked on Dr Thompson up on the rim. Sheimi has an arm around his shoulders and one fisted to her heart. They both look fine and I'm grateful for that, but I can't see the others and it makes me nervous. The ash has finally settled from our impact leaving us covered in a fine layer of gray. I can feel it clinging to every part of my exposed skin and I'm trying really hard not to imagine what went into making it.

Dr Thompson clicks a lighter shut and pauses mid drag, the cherry ember dimming. "Hm?" His eyes widen and he leans back, laughing near hysterically with clouds of smoke escaping from his mouth. "Ya-ya seriously thought I was treating ya back at the hospital?!" He manages through his laughter.

A few of the Meisters even let out a few giggles.

I have never been so confused in my life.

Dr Thompson's laughter eases and he wipes a few tears of mirth from his eyes using the pad of his thumb. "And 'ere I thought the lot of ya were smart. Aren't two of ya some of the highest scoring students in The Cram School's history?" I can see Yukio and Suguro tense out of the corner of my eye. The doctor takes another long drag from his cigarette, though this time he has large cheshire cat smirk around it.

"Answer this for me lads: why the hell would The Vatican go through the trouble of getting a specialty doctor for ya, one all the way from The Land Down Under even, if they're just gonna kill ya?"

Yukio's shoulders drop suddenly and Sheimi gives a little squeak of surprise. I can see the gears moving in his mind as he thinks this through, but I already know the main thing he's doing is beating himself up for not coming up with this possibly happening on his own.

I know I'm not the smartest when it comes to book stuff and school. I'm leagues away from my twin and Suguro, miles from the others. I am street smart though and I can read people. Hearing that Dr Thompson was never there to treat me I know we missed a huge detail that could have helped us. He's absolutely right, why would they bother to treat me if they planned on executing me?

Suddenly there's the crack of a gunshot.

I can feel everyone jump at the sound, Konekomaru squeezes his arms uncomfortably tight around my neck. I immediately strain my senses to figure out who was shot. My weakly enhanced sense of smell doesn't pick up any more blood, just the slight copper tang from Suguro's hands. Nobody had cried out though and I don't hear any rapid breathing or someone falling either.

"Ah ah ah, don't even think 'bout it sheila, I saw that. Now ya've earned ur hands up behind ya head." Dr Thompson's taunting voice echoes down.

I hear Izumo mutter a soft 'damnit' before the sound of something fluttering down to the ground.

"That's right missy, we know ur a Tamer and so's blondie there." He seems to focus on Sheimi for a second and scoffs. "Though how she's a Tamer is beyond me. Anyhow, looks like you're the only two worth worrying about beyond the obvious. So we got a few guns just for both of ya."

Silence falls for just a few seconds but then Konekomaru speaks up from my back. "H-hey wait a second, how did you guys find us anyways?"

"Oh that was actually really easy." The doctor twirls the cigarette and blows smoke on the glowing embers. "See, it was clear that one sheila was on your side from the beginning. Forget 'er name but it's that one with red hair, bad attitude toward authority, and dresses like she's about to hit the beach."

Shura? He knew Shura was on our side?

"Anyhow, the witness statements from the rooftop with Ernst paint a pretty picture that she's chummy with the lot of ya, so I used 'er to my advantage. Suggested the lass be the one to do your interviews even. Figured it would build comradery or whatever since you all would eventually plot something. We knew ya wouldn't go in quietly once the order for execution was released, so we let you all escape."

I suck in a sharp breath. They let us escape? Did they really plan all of this?

"Oh don't look so surprised, it was for The Vatican's best interest anyways. Fleeing from punishment, it just makes you all look worse. Plus that takes any damages that inevitably happen away from their lovely buildings." He takes another long drag. "After you all fled we made a show of arresting that woman since we knew she was in kahoots with ya. Small public scuffle, dramatic reading of the charges, whole thing. We then locked her in a cell with a guard who 'fell asleep' reading a book. We knew she'd summon her familiar at her first chance to warn ya guys so we let her, best way to get you all out of hiding anyways. A page from the book, some dirt, a bit of blood, and she summoned that little naga just like we planned. We followed the beast and got an idea of where you all were, then called in the big guns. After that it was just a matter of herding ya like cattle to this place. Bit too easy if you ask me, ya could have put up a bit more of a fight or been less predictable. Though I do admit the train tickets and having the sheilas over there play a diversion was cute."

We played right into their hands. It really was too easy to escape the hospital, to get out here. We fell for it...

"Are you going to explain what's going to happen now or are you just going to stand up there and gloat about how your plan worked?" Suguro yells. He clinches his fists and I get a whiff of fresh blood.

"Oh fine, fine." He gestures to a few guys next to him and they nod. "First things first: the five of ya, get in a line facing us with your hands behind ur heads. You all are just under arrest, not slated for execution."

Nobody moves.

"Right then, hard way it is. Martin?"

There's another crack of a gunshot followed by the jingle of Shima's staff as it hits the ground. Again, I don't hear anyone cry out or smell fresh blood. It's another warning shot.

"The lot of ya seem to forget ya have a dozen guns trained on ya." Dr Thompson yells. "And though I ain't ordered to kill ya, I can wound ya for a lack of cooperation. Spectacled twin, slowly lower blondie there."

I turn and watch as Yukio slowly kneels then lowers the arm supporting her knees. Sheimi keeps the hand to her heart as she slowly stands up on her own. I can see her shivering, though I'm sure the cold is only part of it. She lists backwards as the weight of her backpack is shifted back to her from Yukio's arm. He slowly stands back up, hands held up to show his cooperation.

"That's more like it." Dr Thompson does a shooing motion with the hand holding his cigarette. A few bits of ash flutter down to join the layer coating everything. "Now back up missy, go on."

Sheimi looks back at Yukio, eyes wide and fearful. She mouths something to him but it takes me a second to realize it because the movement was so slight I thought I was seeing things. She keeps her eyes locked on him the whole time as she slowly walks backwards, Yukio's eyes following her as well. She moves out of my periphery and keeps going until I loud 'stop' echoes down the crater.

"Now you, pink haired one. Stand next to blondie." There's a pause where I hear Shima scooting back somewhere behind me. "And now you, punk."

"We have names ya know!" Suguro's angry voice cries out. He doesn't move to stand.

"And now ya have titles: Criminals to The Vatican, congrats. Now up and back."

Suguro looks over at me and I meet his brown eyes. His angry expression melts and I've never seen him look so open, so vulnerable. His piercings, his dyed hair, his perpetual grimace and hostile attitude, all of it melts away and I see Suguro. He's absolutely terrified but there's something else there, something I can't name. He opens his mouth to say something but there's a third crack of a gunshot causing him to flinch and glare up at Dr Thompson. There's a groove in the ash along his knee from the bullet.

"I said move it."

Suguro awkwardly moves to his feet from his knees without using his injured hands. He steps back like the others have. Now the only one left is Konekomaru on my back assuming they let Izumo stay where she was. When it comes to his turn there isn't any fuss, he just slowly gets up off my back though he does push his knee into the base of my back painfully.

"Alright, here's how this next part is going to work: the both of ya are going to toss ur weapons up to us. Guns first, unload them." Yukio starts to reach for his twin pistols when the doctor interjects with "Just remember, we have lots of guns pointed at you and your accomplices." Yukio grimaces but pulls out the pistols from the holster he attached over his jeans, holds them high, and with a click both their magazines clatter to the ground. He throws them up towards them but it's clear he still isn't used to his strength because both of them fly over their heads and land somewhere behind them.

Dr Thompson mutters "cute" before looking at me. "Now ur turn, the sword please."

The sword is still in it's red fabric clasped in my hands. It's awkward since I'm still splayed out on my stomach but I manage to chuck the thing towards them. It lands stuck upright in the ground only a foot away from the doctor. I hate giving away my weapon but I'm not about to give up hope with it. We'll come up with something, right?

Dr Thompson moves forward and yanks my sword out of the earth. He pulls the red fabric off it, grasps the hilt, and draws the weapon. A soft ring echoes about as the steel hums from being drawn out of it's sheath. I feel and hear the soft whoosh of mine and Yukio's slight transformation. Ears extend, fangs elongate, and our blue flames ignite, casting a soft glow in the crater.

The doctor examines the sword closely. "Interesting." He mutters when he looks towards the joint at the hilt. "Looks like it's already been broken once, mended well too. Such a shame to put hard work to waste. Though that does confirm one of my theories, makes things a lot easier too." He stabs the sword back into the ground and pitches the sheath and fabric somewhere behind him. "'ere's a little lesson for ya since I doubt they've gotten to teaching this. Though for you teacher, this will be review." The doctor flicks his still smoking cigarette to the side. "High level demons will almost always encase their demon hearts into a foreign object. Though heart is a bit of a misnomer, it's more like a core for a demon's power. Bit of a safety measure you see, because you can't exactly kill a high level demon without killing the demon heart. Sure they can get hurt badly, but not killed."

I really don't like where this is going.

"But when the object holding a demon heart is broken, it returns to them. Isn't that right Teacher?"

I look over at Yukio and see that his jaw is clenched and his raised hands have moved to fists. What does he know? How does this affect him?

"When Mephisto sealed away your demon blood in the sword, it wasn't just yours mate." He says to me. "Though he didn't know it, 'e sealed your brother's too." He pulls out another cigarette and lights it. Seriously? This guy is a doctor and he smokes like a chimney. I push that thought aside though as soon as I realize what he said.

"What a second, if that's true then why didn't he change when I drew the sword like I did?"

I hear a few of the guns shift in the hands of the Meisters.

"Oh lay off would ya? No need ta get trigger happy." He blows smoke towards some of them causing one to cough. "Anyhow, good question. It's something I had to investigate when I was first presented your file days ago because it didn't fit my theory. But then I was given your statement 'bout having started testing your blood after the incident Teach."

I look over at Yukio again. "You were testing your blood?! How fucking much did you know and keep from me?!" I yell at him. I know I should be more focused on that man preaching up on the rim but I can't help but feel the anger from back at the hospital resurface. Yukio had been keeping secrets from me. He hid what he had been doing with True Cross, with Ernst. I still don't know why exactly, but this? Hiding that he suspected being part demon like me? I can't even begin to explain the hurt and betrayal I feel. I lamented the loss of my human appearance to him. I confessed to him how alone I felt being like this. He watched as I struggled to gain some control of my powers. He fucking listened as I finally broke down after the others found out what I really was and rejected me.

And all this time he had suspected he was just like me? All those times when I needed my brother more than anything and he couldn't tell me that I wasn't really alone?

I feel an ugly snarl contort my features, baring my fangs to my twin. I don't even think about it, it's just instinctual. "What fucking kind of brother hides that shit?!"

"The kind that's scared!" Yukio whips around to face me, baring his own fangs. His hands are no longer raised, just clenched by his side. "I watched you lose control. I watched you struggle to control your powers. I watched you burn countless things to ash when you got frustrated. I watched as people rejected you. You know what I thought that whole time?!" His glare deepens with the pause. "That's going to be me! I'm going to face all of that but it's going to be even worse because I'm well known at True Cross! I'm a TEACHER! But most importantly, that I'm not as strong as YOU!" Yukio takes a step towards me. "Everything that happened to you, and yet you still carried on with a smile. You forgave people, you tried harder, you didn't give up. Well you know what Rin?!" He takes another step towards me. "I'M NOT AS STRONG AS YOU AND I NEVER WILL BE."

He's practically standing over me and I can feel his anger. I feel my body go on the defensive, snarl now audible and the fur on my tail standing on end.

"ENOUGH!" We both freeze and look back up towards the men on the rim. "As touching as this is, I'd like to move on now." He takes a drag of the cigarette for a dramatic pause. "Anyhow, back to the sword. My main theory lies with the fact that never have we seen an object containing two demon hearts. I believe that because you were the dominant twin, the one with a stronger demonic affiliation, your powers sort of overwhelmed your brothers causing them to only leak out when the sword was finally drawn. Fits right? Your statements included saying how your sense of smell started change and your hearing got better. Shame your eyes never did."

Yukio doesn't respond and the doctor seems to take the silence as affirmation.

"But then there was the incident where the sword cracked. Then it wasn't leak anymore, a small trickle, it became a gush. That's when ya started testing daily, ain't it? Ya noticed how things changed if you lost your temper, if ya got frustrated. Eventually you would have ended up like your brother, just not all at once. But thanks to your dear old dad, that process was accelerated."

"He's not our father!" We both cry out in tandem.

"Fine, fine." He waves a hand in a dismissing motion. "One who raised ya or not, his blood still runs through ya. And now I've got two to deal with."

"So how did you get involved in all of this?" Yukio asks in a tense voice.

"Easy, I'm the one sanctioned by The Vatican to research how to kill high level demons." He holds his arms in a dramatic gesture, like he's doing a grand reveal and he's some sort of celebrity. No one responds though. "Very well, not impressed? Doesn't matter, bottom line is that I'm the one who knows how ta kill ya, test results proved it."

"All those scans and tests at the hospital?"

"Exactly!" He points at me, clearly getting excited as he explains his 'research'. "All those things proved that both of ya don't have ur demon hearts. Which means that there's only one place they can be." He gestures to my sword. "With that explained, Martin?"

The blonde Meister he had addressed earlier picks up an object next to him and hands it to the doctor. It's a saw. The blade isn't that big, but it's clearly powerful with how much is housed in plastic behind it.

"Just a wee little thing but it's got a diamond edge, should get the job done." He flicks a switch and the saw screams to life. Its loud roaring echoes around us and I grit my teeth at the sound. As loud and awful as the sound is alone, it isn't anything compared to when it meets the shiny steel of my sword. It's ear splitting and I clamp my hands around my elongated ears, punishment be damned. No shots are fired, but it doesn't matter because I feel the second the steel starts to give way under the teeth of the saw. I know I'm screaming and I've shifted onto my side into a fetal position. I feel as though part of me is being ripped apart, some part I can't even identify. I can feel my human heart beating frantically in my chest, blood roaring in my ears, but there's another series of thumps. It's hard, heavy, but still just as desperate. I recognize the feeling when I was on the floor of the True Cross building, when Yukio gave me my repaired sword back.

I pry my eyes open and see my brother in just as much agony. He's collapsed onto his knees, hands over his own ears. He's hunched over and I notice his glasses have fallen off. They now lie in a halo thin glass beneath him. He's screaming too, tears running down his face from the pain.

I blink and my vision is blurred from my own tears of pain. I try to keep my eyes open though, focussed on my brother. I don't know how long it goes on but suddenly I realize our flames are pulsing with the beats I feel. The beats begin to pick up and so do the pulses of our flames until suddenly it all snaps. It happens all at once. The sound of steel being cut stops followed by the clatter of the hilt hitting the ground but the roar of the saw remains. The beats and flames give one final powerful burst and I feel like I'm punched in the stomach. All the air rushes out of me, leaving me gasping for air and a painful new ache pulsing in my gut. I'm just trying to breath when a manic voice echoes down to us.

"Confirmed! My theory confirmed! Look at that mates! Beautiful!"

I wheeze and look up at the man. He switches off the saw and tosses it to the side. It lands right next to the hilt of my broken sword. The large portion of the metal still stands proudly in the ground.

"Wha-" I stop to try and get more air into my lungs. "What did you do to us?"

"Just returned your hearts. Now we can actually kill ya." The doctor pulls his white coat aside revealing a small handgun strapped to his waist. He reaches for the weapon and pulls it out. "Thing is, still can't just kill ya like ya are now. No no, that would still be too easy for high level demons. Ya both need to have your demon blood and powers running at full steam. Ironic thing really, to be ur most powerful you're at your most vulnerable. Expose ur demon hearts and ya become something truly terrifying, but ya make the target obvious for killing ya."

"And exactly how are you going to force us to do that? It's not like we even know how to do that." I manage to snark.

"Ya don't seriously think I didn't plan that part out? What the hell do ya think I'm doing in The Outback because I certainly ain't there fuk'n spiders."

I seriously hope that's just an expression.

"This," he pauses for a second to open the magazine of his gun open. He slides out the top object and see that it's not actually a bullet. Instead, it looks like a tranquilizer dart. The glass tube has something in it and is capped with a fuzzy blue end. "This is what I've been working on mates." He rolls the thing between his fingers and holds it a little higher, admiring his work. "This 'ere little beauty is a bit of my own creation. Took years ta make though, bit of a shortage of high level demons to test it on. Still, it was well worth it." He slides the thing back into the magazine and pops it back into the gun.

"Thing is, we can force ya ta change." That cheshire cat smirk from earlier returns as he takes one last puff of his cigarette. "Funny thing adrenaline. That fight or flight response is mighty powerful when triggered because it's only triggered in a life or death situation. And thing is with adrenaline, we can make it." He clicks the safety off and points the gun at my brother. "And that's where instinct takes over. The body will do whatever is necessary in that situation to survive, and that includes letting your demon heart take over. And that's how we can kill ya."

This gunshot is the loudest of them all. I flinch violently at the sound but I manage to keep my eyes on Yukio. He jerks back a bit when the dart makes contact with his shoulder and then moves to look down at the thing. He looks up at me from it and I can see the second the drug takes effect. His eyes widen and I see his pupils dilate followed by his breathing rate increasing. I can see him trying to fight something but he loses right away. He grabs the top of his head where small twin flames burn and starts screaming. I watch in horror as the teeth in his mouth all become pointed like his fangs. They don't lengthen, but they all gain that distinct shape. Then his hands start to change. His claws grow longer, now unmistakably black talons. But the change doesn't stop there. Fur the same color as his hair and tail appears and creeps from the tips of his fingers to his elbow. The final thing that changes is two horns appear where the flames were. They sprout forth and follow his skull back behind his head before curling upwards slightly. They're black but grooved like a rams and in those grooves the same blue color of our flames bleeds out. His flames don't change, but they do seem to wrap around him more than simply come from him like before.

His screaming stops suddenly and turns into violent pants. His hands release their death grip on his new horns to fall with a heavy thump next to him. He slowly opens his eyes and I see that his once normal blue eyes are now feathered and rimmed with red.

"Your turn mate." Is the only warning I get before I feel the sting of the needle registers.

I feel the effects immediately and start screaming as my brother had, hands digging into my scalp as I feel my skin split to expose horns. I feel my body change just like my brother's had. My teeth change in my mouth, my claws become talons, fur bursts along my hands and forearms, and there's nothing I can do about it. I scream in pain as I feel the change shift with my heart racing to the point I fear it's going burst. My veins feel like they're on fire as whatever chemical was injected in me spreads, the heat is unbearable, but the worst feeling is in my head. I feel rational thought slowly get pulled away, replaced with something primal. It all gets stripped away, every last bit of my humanity. I feel it, I feel the primal, instinctual part of me roar to life and take over.

The change stops and I'm panting. Smells, so many smells. Men on the rim, all men. Brother, my brother in blood. His familiar smell washes over me and I look at him. Submissive, waiting for me to lead. Good brother.

Revenge. Want revenge, want freedom. A voice in the back of my head whispers protect. Protect? I look behind me and see five pairs of eyes looking back at me. All scared. Yes, protect.

Crack. Gun, gunshot. Scream, blood smell. Blood from biggest human. His hands move to cover his side and there's blood, lots of blood. Other humans scream.

Kill. Revenge.

I jump up, high, high towards the moon. More screams, more gunfire. No, no hurt me. I spin with my flames intensifying around me. Bright, beautiful. Bullets scream around me, a few graze my skin and burn, but none hurt, none kill.

I move quickly down the line, guns fly out of grasps and are either crushed in my hands or fly far away. Blood flies with them, I don't care how, I just focus on the weapons.

A human charges at me with a broad sword. Stupid. I move out of the way in a blur before he hits me and grab the hands holding the hilt. I crush the bones, the sick crunch makes me smile and I look the pathetic man right in the eye. I see the pain, the fear, and it's delicious. I raise my hand, razor sharp talons glinting in the moonlight. In a flash I drag them down the man's stomach. He screams in pain. I drop his hands and he falls to his knees, blade falling beside him. He stares in horror at the pink ropes of intestine hanging out of him. Hours. It'll take hours for him to die. All should suffer for what they have done.

I spare a glance to my brother and see gore dripping from his chin. A twisted smirk plays across his face as he holds a limp body in front of him, blood still flowing from the cut across the human's neck. I hear the click of the safety on a gun being turned off and I move. The hand falls to the ground, still holding the gun. The man screams in horror at the stump.

Die. All of you. Die.

They all fall, one by one by our hands. Blood shimmers black beneath the cold moonlight on the scorched earth like a painting, death and the metallic tang of blood perfumes the air, screams of agony are music, our flames dance alongside us casting a soft blue light, beautiful. It's all beautiful. Swords, every type of gun, a few familiars, all of them fall by our hands as the minutes tick by.

I'm crouched over a human, hands around his throat when the substance disappears from my system. It's sudden, like a light switch, not like before where it slowly consumed me.

I blink the last bits of the haze from my eyes, feeling my senses dull which disorients me. The horns disappear, my talons turn back into claws, the fur disappears, but my ears and fangs stay elongated, my flames still dance around me. I look down at the human before me and see that he is dead, my hands still tight around his throat. I cry out and fling myself off of him. I can't catch myself though, my hand slips in a pool of blood and I crash awkwardly. I get up, slowly untangling myself from and I look in horror at what my brother and I did.

I can remember everything. Every bit of it. I can still feel skin ripping under my claws, warm blood splashing onto me, bones crushing under my grasp, I remember it all. But most of all, I remember enjoying it.

I hear violent retching and look over. I see my brother not too far from me. He's equally covered in blood and gore on his hands and knees. He retches again but only a small bit of bile comes up from his empty stomach.

I feel my own stomach clench, threatening to expel its meager contents but a sob wins out. I choke on it as I look around and see the horrors my brother and I rought. Blood, gore, pieces of people, bodies, it's too much. I cry out and let the anguish consume me. Screaming, sobbing, I stay in the midst of all I did as I fall apart.

"Rin?"

I whip around and see Suguro standing a few feet away from me. One hand is still clamped over his side and covered in blood, though none of it looks fresh, like it managed to stop. Other then that he just looks disheveled. Dirt and ash covers him head to toe, his clothes are slightly torn, but he looks ok.

"Su-Suguro?" I manage.

He reaches out with his free hand, pausing just beyond my blue flames. He reaches out a little more and nothing happens. His skin doesn't burn, there's no pain, no heat, the flames just bend around is outreached hand. After confirming that he won't get hurt he takes the two steps to reach me. He collapses in front of me and yanks me to him. I don't know what comes over me but I throw my arms around him, crushing myself into him. He shifts so his legs are crossed and pulls me closer into him. I sit in his lap and put my knees on either side of his hips. My tail wraps around his thigh too as I force myself to be as close as possible to him. I know I'm loudly wailing in his ear but he doesn't seem to care, the arm around my shoulders just pulls me closer and he buries his face into the junction of my neck and collar.

I don't know how long we stay like that but I open my eyes when I hear the crunch of footsteps approaching. It's Shima. There's a cut in the shoulder of his t-shirt exposing a still bleeding gouge. I take a second to look around and see my brother still on his hands and knees but Shiemi is there with a hand on his shoulder. Konekomaru is still struggling up the side of the rim and Izumo is standing a few feet away looking around with wide eyes. The rest of them all look fine, no injuries and I feel a wave of relief.

I catch sight of the man I disemboweled, now clearly dead from a blow to the head. His intestines are still hanging out around him but the side of his head is caved in and his wide sightless eyes are lifeless. Another violent sob catches in my throat and I hold tighter onto Suguro. He does the same.

"Hey Bon?" It's Shima's voice, soft as he moves around me. I feel Suguro look up from my shoulder at him. I hear dirt and rocks shift as he kneels down behind me. "Now I think we have to worry about PTSD."

* * *

A/N: Tah-dah? Please leave comments! Let me know what you guys think so far, what I should do differently, or if I made mistakes! Thank you :D


	10. Damages

A/N: I'm sorry this took so long...I finally got a full time job and that means working 40 hours a week on top of being a full time grad student. I'm exhausted all the time but I promise I have no intention of giving up on this story. Thank you so much guys, enjoy!

* * *

We stay in the middle of the battlefield far longer than I want to but I'm in no position complain. I stay in Suguro's lap the whole time which means I don't help the others, nor does Suguro. Even after my inconsolable melt down has turned to silent tears he doesn't move, he just stays put with his arm around me. He does call out questions and commands though, clearly taking on the role of leader in all this. I know Yukio would normally be the one to take it but he's just as indisposed as I am. He's seated with his knees pulled up, his arms wrapped tightly around them and face hidden within. He must still be a mess because Sheimi hasn't moved from his side. She's on her knees facing him with her arms wrapped tight around his shoulders, his flames bending around her just like mine are around Suguro. I can see that she's whispering things to him but her voice is too soft and they're too far away for me to hear. She's also still in just her school uniform with her sock-clad knees pushed into the scorched earth. It has to be painful with who knows what digging into her skin but she doesn't seem to care as she continues to rub Yukio's back and whisper to him.

Konekomaru moves back into my line of sight as he picks through the mess. He's clearly uncomfortable and nauseated; his skin is paler than the moon and his hands shake but he pushes on. He pulls on a black trench coat with one hand and pulls out a very bloody pistol with the other. He adds it to the other two he's found in the waistband of his jeans after he confirms that the safety is on. He doesn't look at the fresh blood on his hands, they're already covered up to his elbows.

Izumo is further away doing same but she's found one of the guns I crushed. She releases the magazine and puts the ammo in a sack she pilfered. She seems the least fazed by what's going on but I'm sure it's mostly just a mask. Izumo isn't the type of person to show anything that might be considered weakness.

I know the work is necessary and important, we need these weapons and any supplies on them but I can't bring myself to move. It's like a horrible nightmare that I can't wake up from and has completely immobilized me. Everything just keeps replaying over and over in my mind, no matter how hard I try. I remember back to when I was small the few times I had been scared or uncontrollably upset. It wasn't often, usually I used fear as a tool to fight and most of the time I got frustrated rather than upset but there are a few times I remember. A bad dream, a particularly cruel adult, once I watched a horror movie way too young. And when that happened, my dad would hold me just like Suguro is holding me now and tell me everything's ok.

That's not going to happen this time though. Everything isn't going to be ok because I've done something horrible.

I don't know what's worse now: the fact I did this, that I could turn into that monster again, or the part of me that feels relief at still being alive. The latter is a feeling that's equal parts relief and disgust because the only reason I'm alive is the others died. What makes my life more valuable than theirs? Why shouldn't I have a bullet between my eyes?

A hiccup causes me to jump and breaks my train of thought.

"I found a radio!" Shima calls out somewhere behind me.

"Awesome. Is it battery operated or chargeable?" I can feel Suguro's voice with how close I'm pressed to him. Heck, my elongated right ear is even pressed into his hair and I can hear the words move through his body. He goes back and forth with Shima discussing his find but eventually lapses back into silence.

"Keep talking." I say after only a moment of silence. My voice is completely wrecked. It's hardly even a whisper it's so soft but even worse it's gravely and I hardly understand the words I just spoke. "Please." I try again after clearing my throat. "Please, keep talking."

"About what?" He asks softly so only I can hear.

"I don't know. Something, anything. It helps." God I'm so needy right now but I don't feel any shame or embarrassment when I realize it. I'm drowning too much in other thoughts and emotions to care.

"Alright, sure." He starts reciting sutras. I'm not surprised to be honest, but I do wish it were something else he had chosen. Most of them aren't even in languages I recognize. Either way it does help. I focus on his voice, his tone, the way he talks, and it manages to keep me from thinking about what happened or what could happen again.

After a few more minutes of picking through things Konekomaru looks up at us. His brows rise from behind his glasses and he approaches.

"You've got a lot of grazes from bullets and they're all still bleeding, we should really clean them up." He's looking at my arms wrapped around Suguro's neck. Suguro stops reciting sutras and I shake my head quickly to say no. I don't want Suguro to stop reciting sutras, I don't want to move, I don't want my wounds tended to. Konekomaru sighs and his shoulders sag. "Okumura we don't know how badly you're hurt, we really should take a look." I shake my head more and hold onto Suguro a little tighter. Suguro seems to understand.

"Hey man, I know, it's ok." He sounds like he's talking to a little kid and I hate myself for feeling comforted. "It'll be for just a second ok? I also need someone to look at my side, kinda got shot ya know?"

I tense when the memory comes back. The blood, the sound, the smells…

"I'm fine!" Suguro quickly adds, feeling the shift in my body. "It stopped bleeding a while ago. Just wanna be careful ok?"

I still don't want to let go. I feel safe, I feel like someone still cares about me despite what I did, I feel less like the monster I know I am. I take a deep breath and nod. Suguro waits for my arms to loosen before he moves his. I slowly lean back but I keep my head down. I know I look awful. I can feel the blood that's now dried all over me. I can feel how puffy my face is from breaking down. I can feel pieces of gore stuck in my hair. On top of all that I still look like a monster. My ears are long, my fangs poke out past my lower lip, my flames are still burning. I can't look Suguro in the eye.

I don't get a choice though because I feel a hand under my chin. Suguro pushes gently and I end up looking straight into his brown eyes. His expression is closer to his norm with his brow furrowed but instead of looking annoyed he looks almost...concerned? That can't be right, why would he be concerned about me? Doesn't he see me? Doesn't he see the monster? Isn't he at least disgusted? I jerk my chin away and shift backwards off his lap.

I sit with my legs crossed and my gaze focused on the ash around me. Konekomaru is right, I can feel all the grazes from the bullets and the blood oozing out of them. They're all over, though my arms seem to be the worst off. They don't hurt like a normal cut either. No, these all burn. I remember what the nurses said back at the hospital and realize it's the residue from holy water casings. I heave a sigh and I do a quick self-check. There's a few on the outside of my right thigh, one went through the toe of my shoe and somehow didn't take a digit with it, one took a chunk out of my right shoulder, and at least seven grazed my arms. The one that hurts the most though is the one that took a piece of my left ear. I try to run a finger over it to try and get a better idea of the damage but it hurts too much. My clothes are a complete mess too but that's not surprising. My jeans managed to survive the fall into the crater with minimal damage but now they're torn at the hems, my right thigh where the bullets grazed me, and the knees pretty much threadbare. My shirt is even worse off. It ripped in several places with the fall but now the sleeve of the right shoulder is gone as well as a chunk in the right side. Of course it's also all completely saturated in blood.

I hear a sharp hiss of pain and whip around to see Suguro pulling the bloody fabric of his shirt away from the bullet wound. The blood has already dried and adhered the shirt to the damaged skin. He pulls again and manages to get the rest of it off with a loud groan. He lifts the shirt and I'm greeted with a horrifying sight. There's so much blood smeared across his stomach and side. The hole is right at the edge of his side above his hip, only a few inches between the entrance and exit wound so I know no internal organs got hit, but still. What's worse is that it's started bleeding again from the fabric ripping away the seal. The bright red liquid oozes out and blends with the darker dried blood before soaking his jeans even more.

As much as I want to look away, I can't. I need to see how hurt he is and that Konekomaru tends to all his wounds.

Shima brings the medical bag over when Konekomaru asks for it and I see that his shoulder is wrapped in a thick layer of bandages. A makeshift sling has also been made out of his button up to keep it immobilized. He offers me a half smile before walking away.

Konekomaru inspects Suguro's side a bit but he clearly doesn't know what he's doing. He sighs and just puts gauze over the holes before binding it tight with a few compression bandages. Moving on to his hands is a different story. He has to use tweezers to pull a piece of glass out of the heel of one hand and some small pieces of cement in the other. Once they're cleaned he globs antiseptic cream everywhere before binding them in a similar way he did Suguro's bullet wound.

When Konekomaru moves on to me he pauses. He watches my flames flicker and dance around for a minute, anxiety palpable. Once he summons his courage he gulps and lifts a shaky hand, slowly reaching towards the edge of the blue. Just like with Suguro, the flames bend around him. Konekomaru slowly moves his hand and the flames continue to bend around it. Seeming satisfied he won't get hurt, Konekomaru gets to work. I have no idea how the flames are doing that but I'm not about to question it too much. I never really wondered why my clothes didn't burn off anyways. Might as well leave it to Yukio to figure out later.

"These all look like grazes, how on earth did you do that? I heard the guns go off so many times!"

I shrug because honestly, I've been wondering the same thing. That proves to be a bad idea though because it pulls at the gouge in my shoulder. Konekomaru gets to work bandaging me after that. It's clear he's not going to have enough compression bandages for all my wounds though so he ends having to tape most of them. My shoulder needs more attention than basic first-aid but we don't bother Yukio, we just silently agree to deal with it later. In the end I look ridiculous. Most of me is covered in white bandages which is a stark contrast to the mix of gray ash and red blood I'm covered in. Looking down at my arms I'm reminded of cheap toilet paper mummies kids dressed up as.

Once he's done, Konekomaru grabs the bag and walks over to Yukio. He seems to be about the same shape as me with tons of grazes. Wonder how that'll go.

I jerk my gaze the other way when I hear some debris shift and see Kuro making his way towards me. His black and white coat is covered in gray and his paws have bits of blood on them. I can tell they're not his though, it's just transfer from moving around here. I'm so happy to see him and see that he's ok, I was wondering what happened to him.

"Kuro, where did you run off to?"

I didn't know how to help with the fight, sorry. He bows his head a bit and looks away. I wanted to, I really did like the other day, but… He trails off and his ears go back. He doesn't need to say anything else, I understand.

I reach over and scratch his favorite spot. "Hey no worries, I was just curious. Started to worry about you."

Kuro pushes against my hand and looks up at me.

That blond girl's familiar was here the whole time. They put up a wall of vines that seemed to keep your flames and the bullets away. Kuro catches sight of Shima with his bandaged shoulder and sling. Most of them at least. I crawled out and saw that doctor man running away with a few people. I tried to follow them but they got away in a weird looking car.

"Doctor Thompson got away?!"

Things were quiet before but now I have everyone's stunned attention. I look around and sure enough, there's a white coat missing from the sea of black trenches.

How?!

My heart starts pounding faster, louder and my breath quickens as I frantically continue to look around for him. Kuro has to be wrong! If he's still alive he can turn me back into that monster, I can't go through that again! Black, red, grey, no white. I can feel my shoulders start to rise and fall in rapid succession with my panicked breathing. No, no, no! He'll find us again, he'll use that poison again! I can't, I can't! What if next time I hurt my friends? I just started attacking people, I didn't care who. It was just a blind rage and urge to cause pain. What if one of my friends tries to help or doesn't get away in time and they end up with my claws in their gut? I picture Sheimi looking up at me with her big blue eyes, mouth open in a silent scream with my hand wrist deep into her stomach. Her warm blood oozing out and running along my arm…

I feel nausea bubble up from my gut.

Hey! I feel a sharp pain in my finger and yank it away. Kuro is looking at me with wide eyes and slowly closes his mouth. The jerk bit me! I glare down at him but a second later I realize he successfully pulled me from my near hysterics. He returns my glare.

Stop that! I found someone to help!

"Wait, what?"

Kuro rolls his eyes, clearly getting fed up with me. He gets up and takes a few steps back. Come on! We have to go to him.

"Who?"

Just come on already! He turns around and takes a few more steps, threatening to leave without me. We're making him wait a long time already since I had to come back and fetch you!

"Will you at least tell me who it is?!" I'm starting to get frustrated with him.

No, because you might not accept his help.

"Oh gee, that really makes me want to go meet him." I yell sarcastically since he's now at the edge of the battlefield.

The cat still ignores me.

I groan, roll my eyes, but eventually give in because we really don't have any options at this point. I push myself up and it's more of an effort than I'd like to admit. I can only use one arm with my injured shoulder and the burning sensation from the grazes erupts to a near blinding level, forcing a few curses from my lips. I manage to get to my feet though and take a few steps to follow Kuro.

"Rin! Hold up!" I jerk my head but mostly out of surprise. Yukio hasn't said or really done anything this whole time, I hadn't expected him to pay attention to what Kuro was saying. He's pushing himself up though Konekomaru and Sheimi are clearly protesting. Konekomaru is still holding the medical tape too so I assume he wasn't finished.

"I'm coming too." He manages with a pant.

"Wait now hold up!" Izumo chimes in. She puts her hands on her hips and fixes us with a glare. "Care to explain to the non-demon folks here?!"

I really need to stop forgetting that fact.

"Kuro found help." Yukio says simply before taking a few steps. How he's moving at all is beyond me, four-eyes is blind as a bat without his glasses.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, then I'm coming too." Shima exclaims.

"No way am I staying here!" Konekomaru chucks the tape into the bag before scrambling to his feet.

"We'll all go." Suguro's tone leaves no room for argument behind me. I spare a glance over at Kuro to make sure he's still waiting before jumping down into the crater to grab our backpacks. Whatever, it'll probably make things a lot easier if we all go with our stuff. It also means we can finally get out of this place and never come back, I can finally push these memories into a deep dark part of my mind and try to forget about it.

* * *

It takes a few minutes but we do manage to finally get out of there.

Everyone is absolutely filthy. We're all caked in blood, though most of us it's our own. Sheimi's knees are bloodied from kneeling, which leaves Konekomaru and Izumo being the only ones without major injuries. It would be hard to tell at first look though. Both of them have blood caked up to their knees and elbows as well as random streaks from picking through everything. As if the blood isn't enough the ash coats everything else. Our faces, our clothes, even as we march on more of it grabs ahold of us to add another layer. On top of the filth it seems like the adrenaline has worn off leaving everyone absolutely exhausted. When was the last time we even slept?

The pace we keep is slow due to a number of factors. Kuro is leading but in his smaller form which makes it difficult to move around, especially the larger bits of debris forcing him to go around them. That isn't really a problem because exhaustion is slowing the rest of us down. Feet are dragging, slipping, and stumbling which brings out an occasional string of curses. It's still relatively dark too but it seems like the battle drove away any demons in the area, we haven't seen or heard a single one in the darkness. Still, everyone is tense and keeping as much of their weary senses open to finding threats as they can.

Sheimi is struggling with her injured knees. She tried to keep how hurt she was from Yukio but I think he still got a good idea, even without his vision. She just picked out what debris she could before grabbing her bag to head out. Yukio has the medical bag slung over his backpack. It must be considerably lighter now that so many of us have had to use it. I doubt the others expected to use it for stuff like this when they told Yukio to fill it, it was probably supposed to be just for my injuries at the time. Izumo has the small pack she snagged over her front. I didn't realize how much stuff she grabbed until we started moving. The thing is practically bursting at the seams. Konekomaru shoved the guns he found into his pack as well as a few other things. Shima doesn't have his pack due to his shoulder injury so I'm carrying it over mine. I tried to take Suguro's due to his side injury but he just pushed me away and slung it over his shoulders. He tried to hide the wince of pain but I saw it. Stubborn jerk.

He's also carrying the broad sword.

He tried to get me to take it originally. He had picked it up and basically shoved it at me but I nearly puked on him. I remember exactly what I did to the man who held it. His blood covers the once beautiful sword, hiding the engraved sutras and elaborate designs in the hilt. Suguro pulled it away when my stomach clenched forcing a dry heave. It took me a second to breath before I was able to point to the eviscerated man five feet away saying it was his. Suguro looked over at him but I didn't see his reaction, my head was still bowed in case my stomach decided to empty. He put his hand on my uninjured shoulder after a minute and muttered how I needed a sword but he'll hold onto it for now. He didn't give me a chance to respond before moving away.

We trudge along for nearly half an hour before we reach our goal. Kuro must have really been booking it earlier. Either way it's clear who is here to help us when we reach a block of shops. Sitting on top of what was a raised garden bed is a little white dog with a large pink bow. He's lounging with his eyes closed but he twitches an ear when he hears us coming and perks up. He takes his sweet time stretching and yawning as we approach.

"Well, looks like you've seen better days." His high pitched voice greets us.

Yukio is probably just now realizing there's something living on the stone because he jumps at that which knocks me out of my shock.

"Mephisto?! You're the one here to help us?!" I sputter.

"Mephisto?!" Comes a collection of shocked voices.

Oh god I do not want to be the one to explain this.


End file.
